Patent ID: 7616584

Claim:
A method for routing circuit paths within a network, the circuit paths being arranged between a source and a destination of the network, the method comprising: identifying a first available circuit path of the circuit paths between the source and the destination, the first available circuit path including a first plurality of links extending between nodes within said first available circuit path, wherein each of the first plurality of links has an associated protection type; determining a number of protection changes associated with the first plurality of links, said protection change comprising a transition at one of said nodes, between two different protection types at two of said links connected to said node in said circuit path; assigning a first metric to the first available path, the first metric being based on the number of protection changes associated with the first plurality of links; and identifying a selected available path of the circuit paths to be used to pass information between the source and the destination based at least in part on the first metric.