Abstract: A method and apparatus for composite link assignment are provided such that network capacity is sufficient to handle all the traffic (e.g., load) while an objective function, e.g., the total cost of the capacity is minimized. The present method receives a plurality of weights for a plurality of arcs and a load for the network. An objective function is selected for minimization, where the present method then determines the composite link assignment to handle the load while the objective function is minimized. In one embodiment, the composite link assignment comprises a plurality of different link types for the plurality of arcs.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for composite link assignment are provided such that network capacity is sufficient to handle all the traffic (e.g., load) while an objective function, e.g., the total cost of the capacity is minimized. The present method receives a plurality of weights for a plurality of arcs and a load for the network. An objective function is selected for minimization, where the present method then determines the composite link assignment to handle the load while the objective function is minimized. In one embodiment, the composite link assignment comprises a plurality of different link types for the plurality of arcs.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for composite link assignment are provided such that network capacity is sufficient to handle all the traffic (e.g., load) while an objective function, e.g., the total cost of the capacity is minimized. The present method receives a plurality of weights for a plurality of arcs and a load for the network. An objective function is selected for minimization, where the present method then determines the composite link assignment to handle the load while the objective function is minimized. In one embodiment, the composite link assignment comprises a plurality of different link types for the plurality of arcs.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for updating a shortest path graph or a shortest path tree are disclosed. For example, an arc weight is changed for an arc in the network, where a plurality of affected nodes in the network is determined. The distance of each of the affected nodes is determined, where a subset of the plurality of affected nodes is then placed in a heap. One aspect of the present invention is that not all the affected nodes are placed in the heap. In one embodiment, the present reduced heap approach only applies the Dijkstra's algorithm to those affected nodes whose distances change in a smaller amount that the change in the arc weight. In turn, the shortest path graph or the shortest path tree is updated in accordance with the affected nodes placed in the heap.