Extensions to resource reservation protocol (RSVP) -traffic engineering (TE) for bi-directional optical path setup

摘要

A method of providing bi-directional optical switched paths in an optical network includes the allocation of a pair of labels for uni-directional optical paths in a backward direction and in a forward direction. The forward and backward going optical paths of a given optical node are either both outgoing paths from the given optical node or both incoming paths toward the given optical node. The provision of bi-directional optical switched paths can be implemented as an extension to the Resource Reservation Protocol-Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE) while avoiding the problem of contention for label allocation.