Patent ID: 7274869

Claim:
A method, comprising: establishing a protection path for a failed link between first and second nodes in a mesh network, wherein a transfer of information from the first node to the second node is disrupted by the failed link; establishing an alternate path from the second node to the first node via a destination-to-source communication channel, wherein the destination-to-source communication channel is established through at least one alternate node beginning at the second node and ending at the first node; determining whether a node of the at least one alternate node has available capacity to allow information from the failed link to be rerouted; executing a switch function at the node of the at least one alternate node traversed by the destination-to-source communication channel to allow source-to-destination information traffic flow from the first node to the second node along the alternate path defined by the destination-to-source communication channel; and switching the information traffic flow at the first node from the failed link to the alternate path when the destination-to-source communication channel is established at the first node.