Patent ID: 7630322

Claim:
A network monitor connected to a first dedicated packet-switched data network for passively monitoring traffic on the first dedicated packet-switched data network to filter protocol frames in the first dedicated packet-switched data network in order to extract information about a network topology and status of a second automatically switched optical transport network, the first dedicated packet-switched data network connecting network controllers controlling associated network elements of the second automatically switched optical transport network, said network monitor comprising: a module to filter protocol frames of a predefined protocol type in the first dedicated packet-switched data network by which said network controllers advertise a network topology and status of the second automatically switched optical transport network; and a module to extract from the filtered protocol frames transmitted in the first dedicated packet-switched data network information about the network topology and status of the second automatically switched optical transport network and display the network topology and status information of the automatically switched optical transport network graphically to a user, wherein the module to filter protocol frames and the module to extract from the filtered protocol frames information about the network topology are elements of the network monitor independent from and not integrated into the network controllers controlling the associated network elements.