Patent ID: 8009669

Claim:
A system for a global concurrent path computation in a communication network, comprising: a plurality of nodes; a plurality of links disposed between the nodes; a plurality of Traffic Engineering Label Switched Paths (TE-LSPs) extending across at least some of the nodes and at least some of the links; at least one Path Computation Element (PCE) in communication with at least some of the nodes and configured to compute the TE-LSPs; and at least one PCE agent in communication with the PCE and configured to process a TE-LSP path computation request; wherein the global concurrent path computation concurrently computes a plurality of TE-LSPs extending from the plurality of nodes, wherein the global concurrent path computation is performed in the at least one PCE through communication with the at least one PCE agent using a PCE communication protocol, and wherein the PCE communication protocol comprises a global objective function field providing an overarching objective function, and wherein the global objective function field comprises at least one field for minimizing a load on a most used link.