Patent ID: 7639607

Claim:
A signaling system setting a path passing through two rings interconnected by a plurality of nodes forming a network by signaling, wherein each of said nodes is provided with an inter-node connection information table including topology information indicating how the nodes in the network are connected and a branch node judgment unit judging whether that home node becomes a branch node based on content of said inter-node connection information table, and when that home node receives a signaling message for setting a working path and said branch node judgment unit judges that that node is a branch node, the spare path signaling is started for the destination node of the spare path based on the information in the inter-node connection information table so as to autonomously set a spare path, wherein the path passing through said two rings is a path terminated at a destination ring, said inter-node connection information table is provided with a home ring configuration information table including home ring topology indicating how the nodes in the home ring to which the home node belongs are connected and an inter-ring connection information table including inter-ring connection information indicating how the home ring is connected to the nodes in a ring adjoining the home ring, and said branch node judgment unit sets said spare path based on the content of said home ring configuration information table and said inter-ring connection information table.