Patent ID: 7231146

Claim:
A method for communicating a signal, comprising: receiving a signal at a primary device of a switching system, the primary device associated with a primary path, the signal propagating along the primary path; generating a primary overmodulation signal associated with the primary path, wherein the primary overmodulation signal comprises a first primary overmodulation signal associated with the primary path comprising a first primary path; detecting an absence of the primary overmodulation signal associated with the primary path; sending an operating signal from the primary device to a secondary device of the switching system, the secondary device associated with a secondary path, the operating signal operable to initiate propagation of the signal along the secondary path; and disabling a second primary overmodulation signal associated with a second primary path in response to detecting the absence of the primary overmodulation signal, the first primary path associated with a first propagation direction, the second primary path associated with a second propagation direction opposite to the first propagation direction.