US Patent 7639631 Parallel constraint based path computation using path vector

Methods of computing a path through a network between a source node and a destination node. At the source node, an explore message is launched into at least one link hosted by the source node. The explore message includes a path vector containing a node identifier of the source node. At a node intermediate the source node and the destination node, the explore message is received, and each link hosted by the node that can be operably added to the path is identified. A respective node identifier of the node is added to the path vector of the explore message, which is then forwarded through each identified link. At the destination node, the respective path vector is extracted from at least one received explore message.