Author: claimsbot

1. A gas turbine for aeronautic engines comprising a first and at least a second rotating bladed sector comprising respectively a first and a second turbine disk arranged coaxially to an axis of the turbine and respectively carrying a coupled first and second moving-blade crown, the first and the second turbine disk defining with the associated blades first and, respectively, second passages through which a cooling air mass for said turbine disks can pass, characterized by further comprising means for conveying said cooling air interposed between said first and second bladed sector to convey the cooling air exiting said first passages towards said second passages.
2. The turbine according to claim 1, characterized in that said conveying means comprise a bulkhead at least partially defining a guide duct of said cooling air towards said second passages.
3. The turbine according to claim 2, characterized in that said first and second passages and said guide duct form part of a closed circuit to feed an equivalent cooling air mass passing through said first and second bladed sector.
4. The turbine according to claim 3, characterized in that said closed circuit further comprises first and second annular chambers into which said first and, respectively, second passages and said guide duct flow.
5. The turbine according to claim 2, characterized in that said bulkhead comprises a respective guide body for each of said bladed sectors, said guide bodies being independent of one another and connected to one another at a connection area of said turbine disks to one another, each of said guide bodies defining a segment of said duct with a respective portion of the associated turbine disk.
6. The turbine according to claim 1, characterized by further comprising thermally insulating means to thermally insulate a hot gas flow from said means for conveying cooling air.
7. The turbine according to claim 6, characterized by further comprising first and second stator bodies interposed between said first and second moving-blade crowns, first sealing means interposed between the first moving-blade crown and said first stator bodies and second sealing means interposed between said second stator bodies and said second blade crown, said thermal insulating means comprising a mechanical barrier stably connected to said stator bodies and defining with the stator bodies another annular duct to convey a bled hot gas flow exiting through said first sealing means towards said second sealing means.
8. The turbine according to claim 7, characterized in that said second sealing means define a reinjection passage of said bled hot gas flow conveyed by said further duct into said hot gas flow.
9. The turbine according to claim 7, characterized in that said further duct partially houses said first and second sealing means.
10. The turbine according to claim 9, characterized in that said further duct is spaced in a radial direction from said means for conveying said cooling air.
11. The turbine according to claim 7, characterized in that said mechanical barrier comprises two metal bodies protruding in axially opposite directions from a support appendage obtained near the junction area of said first and second turbine disk.
12. The turbine according to claim 6, characterized in that said thermally insulating means further comprise an annular chamber arranged between said further annular duct and said means for conveying said cooling air, said chamber housing an insulating air cushion.
13. The turbine according to claim 12, characterized in that said annular chamber communicates with an inlet and with an outlet of said further duct through respective throttled passages.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of self-testing an RFID identification system, comprising:
polling an identification tag location with a sensing antenna;
detecting if a voltage is present in the sensing antenna from a tag at the polled tag location;
waiting a predetermined time for a voltage to become present in the sensing antenna if no voltage is present in the sensing antenna;
determining if tag information data is present at the sensing antenna if a voltage is present in the sensing antenna;
turning the antenna carrier off if there is no tag data present in the sensing antenna;
turning the antenna carrier back on after it is turned off so as to repower the tag at the tag location; and
issuing an alert if after the predetermined time has elapsed that there is no voltage present in the sensing antenna.
2. The method of self-testing an RF identification system as described in claim 1, and further comprising:
querying an identification tag database to determine if an antenna should be present at a location if no voltage is present at the polling location.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further includes determining whether a current iteration, for determining if tag information data is present at the sensing antenna if a voltage is present in the sensing antenna, is above a limit for the number of iterations.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further includes setting tag information data to indicate no tag if no tag information data is present at the sensing antenna for a number of iterations above a limit for the number of iterations for determining if tag information data is present at the sensing antenna.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further includes sending tag information data to a host after determining if tag information data is present at the sensing antenna.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further includes storing tag information data after determining if tag information data is present at the sensing antenna.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if tag information data is present at the sensing antenna if a voltage is present in the sensing antenna includes waiting two power cycles to determine whether a signal representing the tag information data is present.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if tag information data is present at the sensing antenna if a voltage is present in the sensing antenna includes waiting about 50 milliseconds to determine whether a signal representing the tag information data is present.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein scanning for a tag using the sensing antenna has a scan time of about 0.1 seconds for self-testing the identification tag location if no tag is sensed.
10. A method of testing a system for identifying goods, the system having an interrogator with a plurality of antenna inputs, a plurality of identification tags, and a plurality of sensing antennas each operatively connected to the interrogator, the sensing antennas in close proximity to the tag locations, the method comprising:
turning on one of the antennas to poll a specific tag location;
determining whether a voltage due to an excited tag is present at the active antenna;
waiting a predetermined time to detect a voltage in the active antenna if no voltage is present in the active antenna;
reading tag data from the tag associated with the active antenna if there is a voltage;
turning the active antenna off if after the predetermined time there is no voltage present in the active antenna;
turning the antenna back on to repower the tag at the tag location; and
repeating the determining through the reading until a voltage is detected in the active antenna or until a certain second predetermined time has elapsed.
11. The method of claim 10, and further comprising:
sequentially activating each of the plurality of antennas to read tag information for all tag locations.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein turning on one of the antennas to poll a specific tag location includes driving one of the antennas with a square wave drive signal operating at 125 kHZ.
13. The method of claim 10, wherein repeating the determining through the reading until a voltage is detected in the active antenna or until a certain second predetermined time has elapsed includes determining whether a current iteration for determining whether a voltage due to an excited tag is present is above a limit for the number of iterations.
14. The method of claim 10, wherein the method further includes setting tag data to indicate no tag if no voltage due to an excited tag is present at the active antenna for a number of iterations above a limit for the number of iterations for determining if voltage due to an excited tag is present at the active antenna.
15. The method of claim 10, wherein the method further includes sending tag data to a host after determining whether a voltage due to an excited tag is present at the active antenna.
16. The method of claim 10, wherein the method further includes storing tag data after determining whether a voltage due to an excited tag is present at the active antenna.
17. The method of claim 10, wherein waiting a predetermined time to detect a voltage in the active antenna includes waiting two power cycles to determine whether a signal representing the tag data is present.
18. The method of claim 10, wherein waiting a predetermined time to detect a voltage in the active antenna includes waiting about 50 milliseconds to determine whether a signal representing the tag data is present.
19. The method of claim 10, wherein scanning for a tag using one of the antennas to poll a specific tag location has a scan time of about 0.1 seconds for testing the system for identifying goods at the specific tag location if no tag is sensed.
20. A method of self-testing an RFID identification system, comprising:
accessing an antenna map to determine which antennas in the antenna map are active;
selecting an active antenna;
activating the selected antenna;
determining if the selected antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit; and
obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein accessing an antenna map to determine which antennas on the antenna map are active includes skipping the self-testing with antennas indicated as inactive on the antenna map.
22. The method of claim 20, wherein activating the selected antenna includes driving the selected antenna with a square wave drive signal operating at 125 kHZ.
23. The method of claim 20, wherein the method further includes alerting a host or a local alarm on determining that the selected antenna has an antenna voltage less than the predetermined lower limit.
24. The method of claim 20, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna includes waiting a predetermined time for tag data to be read.
25. The method of claim 24, wherein waiting a predetermined time for tag data to be read includes waiting two power cycles.
26. The method of claim 24, wherein waiting a predetermined time for tag data to be read includes waiting about 50 milliseconds.
27. The method of claim 20, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna includes:
determining if tag data is detected by the selected antenna;
if tag data is not detected, determining whether a current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected antenna is above a limit for the number of iterations; and
if tag data is detected by the selected antenna, storing the tag data.
28. The method of claim 27, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna further includes incrementing the iteration count and cycling a driver for the selected antenna off and then on if tag data is not detected and the current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected antenna is below a limit for the number of iterations.
29. The method of claim 27, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna further includes setting the tag data to no tag if tag data is not detected and the current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected antenna is above a limit for the number of iterations.
30. The method of claim 20, wherein the method further includes sending tag data to a host after obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna.
31. The method of claim 20, wherein the method further includes storing tag data after obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna.
32. The method of claim 20, wherein scanning for the tag associated with the selected antenna has a scan time of about 0.1 seconds for self-testing a location of the tag if no tag is sensed.
33. A method of testing a system for identifying goods, the system having an interrogator with a plurality of antenna inputs, a plurality of identification tags, and a plurality of sensing antennas each operatively connected to the interrogator, the sensing antennas in close proximity to the tag locations, the method comprising:
accessing an antenna map to determine which sensing antennas of the plurality of sensing antennas are active;
selecting an active sensing antenna to poll a specific tag location;
driving the selected sensing antenna;
determining if the selected sensing antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit;
obtaining tag data for a tag at a specific tag location associated with the selected sensing antenna; and
selecting a second sensing antenna of the plurality of sensing antennas from the antenna map to determine if the second sensing antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit and to obtain tag data for a second tag at a specific second tag location associated with the selected second sensing antenna, wherein the second sensing antenna is indicated as active on the antenna map.
34. The method of claim 33, wherein accessing an antenna map to determine which sensing antennas on the antenna map are active includes skipping the testing of sensing antennas indicated as inactive on the antenna map.
35. The method of claim 33, wherein driving the selected sensing antenna includes driving the selected sensing antenna with a square wave drive signal operating at 125 kHZ.
36. The method of claim 33, wherein the method further includes alerting a host or a local alarm on determining that the selected sensing antenna has an antenna voltage less than the predetermined lower limit.
37. The method of claim 33, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected sensing antenna includes waiting a predetermined time for tag data to be read.
38. The method of claim 37, wherein waiting a predetermined time for tag data to be read includes waiting two power cycles.
39. The method of claim 37, wherein waiting a predetermined time for tag data to be read includes waiting about 50 milliseconds.
40. The method of claim 33, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected sensing antenna includes:
determining if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna;
if tag data is not detected, determining whether a current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna is above a limit for the number of iterations; and
if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna, storing the tag data.
41. The method of claim 40, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected sensing antenna further includes incrementing the iteration count and cycling a driver for the selected sensing antenna off and then on if tag data is not detected and the current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna is below a limit for the number of iterations.
42. The method of claim 40, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected sensing antenna further includes setting the tag data to no tag if tag data is not detected and the current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna is above a limit for the number of iterations.
43. The method of claim 33, wherein the method further includes sending tag data to a host after obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected sensing antenna.
44. The method of claim 33, wherein the method further includes storing tag data after obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected sensing antenna.
45. The method of claim 33, wherein scanning for the tag associated with the selected sensing antenna has a scan time of about 0.1 seconds for testing the system for identifying goods at the specific tag location if no tag is sensed.
46. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of self-testing an RFID identification system, the method comprising:
polling an identification tag location with a sensing antenna;
detecting if a voltage is present in the sensing antenna from a tag at the polled tag location;
waiting a predetermined time for a voltage to become present in the sensing antenna if no voltage is present in the sensing antenna;
determining if tag information data is present at the sensing antenna if a voltage is present in the sensing antenna;
turning the antenna carrier off if there is no tag data present in the sensing antenna;
turning the antenna carrier back on after it is turned off so as to repower the tag at the tag location; and
issuing an alert if after the predetermined time has elapsed that there is no voltage present in the sensing antenna.
47. The computer-readable medium of claim 46, wherein the method further includes querying an identification tag database to determine if an antenna should be present at a location if no voltage is present at the polling location.
48. The computer-readable medium of claim 46, wherein the method further includes determining whether a current iteration, for determining if tag information data is present at the sensing antenna if a voltage is present in the sensing antenna, is above a limit for the number of iterations.
49. The computer-readable medium of claim 46, wherein the method further includes setting tag information data to indicate no tag if no tag information data is present at the sensing antenna for a number of iterations above a limit for the number of iterations for determining if tag information data is present at the sensing antenna.
50. The computer-readable medium of claim 46, wherein the method further includes sending tag information data to a host after determining if tag information data is present at the sensing antenna.
51. The computer-readable medium of claim 46, wherein the method further includes storing tag information data after determining if tag information data is present at the sensing antenna.
52. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of self-testing an RFID identification system, the method comprising:
accessing an antenna map to determine which antennas on the antenna map are active;
selecting an active antenna;
activating the selected antenna;
determining if the selected antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit; and
obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna.
53. The computer-readable medium of claim 52, wherein accessing an antenna map to determine which antennas on the antenna map are active includes skipping the self-testing with antennas indicated as inactive on the antenna map.
54. The computer-readable medium of claim 52, wherein activating the selected antenna includes driving the selected antenna with a square wave drive signal operating at 125 kHZ.
55. The computer-readable medium of claim 52, wherein the method further includes alerting a host or a local alarm on determining that the selected antenna has an antenna voltage less than the predetermined lower limit.
56. The computer-readable medium of claim 52, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna includes waiting a predetermined time for tag data to be read.
57. The computer-readable medium of claim 52, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna includes:
determining if tag data is detected by the selected antenna;
if tag data is not detected, determining whether a current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected antenna is above a limit for the number of iterations; and
if tag data is detected by the selected antenna, storing the tag data.
58. The computer-readable medium of claim 57, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna further includes incrementing the iteration count and cycling a driver for the selected antenna off and then on if tag data is not detected and the current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected antenna is below a limit for the number of iterations.
59. The computer-readable medium of claim 57, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna further includes setting the tag data to no tag if tag data is not detected and the current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected antenna is above a limit for the number of iterations.
60. The computer-readable medium of claim 52, wherein the method further includes sending tag data to a host after obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna.
61. The computer-readable medium of claim 52, wherein the method further includes storing tag data after obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna.
62. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of testing a system for identifying goods, the system having an interrogator with a plurality of antenna inputs, a plurality of identification tags, and a plurality of sensing antennas each operatively connected to the interrogator, the sensing antennas in close proximity to the tag locations, the method comprising:
turning on one of the antennas to poll a specific tag location;
determining whether a voltage due to an excited tag is present at the active antenna;
waiting a predetermined time to detect a voltage in the active antenna if no voltage is present in the active antenna;
reading tag data from the tag associated with the active antenna if there is a voltage;
turning the active antenna off if after the predetermined time there is no voltage present in the active antenna;
turning the antenna back on to repower the tag at the tag location; and
repeating the determining through the reading until a voltage is detected in the active antenna or until a certain second predetermined time has elapsed.
63. The computer-readable medium of claim 62, the method further including sequentially activating each of the plurality of antennas to read tag information for all tag locations.
64. The computer-readable medium of claim 62, wherein turning on one of the antennas to poll a specific tag location includes driving one of the antennas with a square wave drive signal operating at 125 kHZ.
65. The computer-readable medium of claim 62, wherein repeating the determining through the reading until a voltage is detected in the active antenna or until a certain second predetermined time has elapsed includes determining whether a current iteration for determining whether a voltage due to an excited tag is present is above a limit for the number of iterations.
66. The computer-readable medium of claim 62, wherein the method further includes setting tag data to indicate no tag if no voltage due to an excited tag is present at the active antenna for a number of iterations above a limit for the number of iterations for determining if voltage due to an excited tag is present at the active antenna.
67. The computer-readable medium of claim 62, wherein the method further includes sending tag data to a host after determining whether a voltage due to an excited tag is present at the active antenna.
68. The computer-readable medium of claim 62, wherein the method further includes storing tag data after determining whether a voltage due to an excited tag is present at the active antenna.
69. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of testing a system for identifying goods, the system having an interrogator with a plurality of antenna inputs, a plurality of identification tags, and a plurality of sensing antennas each operatively connected to the interrogator, the sensing antennas in close proximity to the tag locations, the method comprising:
accessing an antenna map to determine which sensing antennas of the plurality of sensing antennas are active;
selecting an active sensing antenna to poll a specific tag location;
driving the selected sensing antenna;
determining if the selected sensing antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit;
obtaining tag data for a tag at a specific tag location associated with the selected sensing antenna; and
selecting a second sensing antenna of the plurality of sensing antennas from the antenna map to determine if the second sensing antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit and to obtain tag data for a second tag at a specific second tag location associated with the selected second sensing antenna, wherein the second sensing antenna is indicated as active on the antenna map.
70. The computer-readable medium of claim 69, wherein accessing an antenna map to determine which sensing antennas on the antenna map are active includes skipping the testing of sensing antennas indicated as inactive on the antenna map.
71. The computer-readable medium of claim 69, wherein driving the selected sensing antenna includes driving the selected sensing antenna with a square wave drive signal operating at 125 kHZ.
72. The computer-readable medium of claim 69, wherein the method further includes alerting a host or a local alarm on determining that the selected sensing antenna has an antenna voltage less than the predetermined lower limit.
73. The computer-readable medium of claim 69, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected sensing antenna includes waiting a predetermined time for tag data to be read.
74. The computer-readable medium of claim 69, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected sensing antenna includes:
determining if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna;
if tag data is not detected, determining whether a current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna is above a limit for the number of iterations; and
if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna, storing the tag data.
75. The computer-readable medium of claim 74, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected sensing antenna further includes incrementing the iteration count and cycling a driver for the selected sensing antenna off and then on if tag data is not detected and the current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna is below a limit for the number of iterations.
76. The computer-readable medium of claim 74, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected sensing antenna further includes setting the tag data to no tag if tag data is not detected and the current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected after determining whether a voltage due to an excited tag is present at the active antenna by the selected sensing antenna is above a limit for the number of iterations.
77. The computer-readable medium of claim 69, wherein the method further includes sending tag data to a host after obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected sensing antenna.
78. The computer-readable medium of claim 69, wherein the method further includes storing tag data after obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected sensing antenna.

1. A method of screening candidate substrates of the OCT6 transporter comprising:
a. providing a test agent;
b. providing a mammalian cell line which expresses OCT6
c. incubating the test agent with the cell line; and
d. determining whether the test agent is a substrate for OCT6.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the test agent is coupled to a detectable substance.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein the detectable substance is selected from the group consisting of extrinsically activatable enzymes, prosthetic groups, fluorescent materials, luminescent materials, bioluminescent materials, radioactive materials, positron emitting metals using various positron emission tomographies, nonradioactive paramagnetic metal ions, immunogenic tag peptide sequences, extrinsically activatable toxins, extrinsically activatable quenching agents, and antibodies.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining whether the test agent is a substrate for OCT6 comprises analyzing whether the test compound is located intracellularly.
5. A method of screening for potential anti-leukemia agents, comprising the steps of:
a. determining viability of a mammalian cell line which expresses OCT6 incubated in the presence of a test compound;
b. identifying the test compound as a potential anti-leukemia agent if the OCT6 intakes the test compound and the test compound causes cell death in the mammalian cell line which expresses OCT6.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the viability of the OCT6 cell line is determined by applying a dye to the cells, incorporation of the dye by the cells indicating death of the cells.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the dye is trypan blue.
8. A test kit for determining whether a substance is a substrate for an OCT6 transporter protein comprising:
a. a mammalian cell line which overexpresses the OCT6 protein;
b. a control antibody or compound which does not react with the OCT6 protein; and
c. a detectable label.
9. The test kit of claim 8 wherein the label is selected from the group consisting of extrinsically activatable enzymes, prosthetic groups, fluorescent materials, luminescent materials, bioluminescent materials, radioactive materials, positron emitting metals using various positron emission tomographies, and nonradioactive paramagnetic metal ions, immunogenic tag peptide sequences, extrinsically activatable toxins, extrinsically activatable quenching agents, and antibodies.
10-40. (canceled)
41. A test kit for determining whether a substance is a substrate for an OCT6 transporter protein comprising:
a. OCT6 protein; and
b. a detectable label.
42. The test kit of claim 41 further comprising an antibody that does not react with the OCT6 protein.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method of allocating demands of a plurality of restorable connections transferring data through a network of nodes connected by links, the method comprising the steps of:
(a) initializing a link length of each link;
(b) routing a demand for a current restorable connection by the steps of:
(b1) generating a minimum path length for paths through nodes and links of the network for the current restorable connection, wherein the minimum path length is the least sum of link lengths for links of each path between a source and a destination node of the current restorable connection,
(b2) determining a path set of disjoint paths through nodes and links of the network for the current restorable connection based on the minimum path length,
(b3) routing a portion of a remainder of the demand as flows over the path set, wherein the portion is based on a lesser value of the remainder of the demand and a minimum capacity of links in the optimal path set,
(b4) updating i) the link length of each link based on the routed portion and a capacity of the link and ii) the remainder of the demand, and
(b5) repeating steps (b1)-(b5) until the demand is routed;

(d) repeating step (b) for each restorable connection;
(e) generating a scaling value based on a maximum ratio of a flow over a link and a capacity of the link.
2. The invention of claim 1, further comprising the step of routing each restorable connection based on the path set.
3. The invention of claim 1, further comprising the steps of generating a metric for the updated link lengths and repeating steps (b) through (d) based on the metric.
4. The invention of claim 1, further comprising the step of scaling, based on the scaling factor, either i) each capacity of the plurality of links or ii) each demand of the plurality of restorable connections.
5. The invention of claim 1, wherein, for step (b), each restorable connections is a fast path restorable connection.
6. The invention of claim 5, wherein, for step (b) each restorable connection is a fast path restorable connection with non-shared backup, and wherein:
the shortest path length is determined for a set of disjoint path pairs corresponding to each restorable connection.
7. The invention of claim 5, wherein, for step (b), each restorable connection is a fast path restorable connection with shared backup, and wherein:
the shortest path length is determined for a set of disjoint path sets corresponding to each restorable connection.
8. The invention of claim 1, wherein the method generates an \u03b5-approximation based on a constant \u03b5, for step (b4), the link length is updated based on a combination of \u03b5 and the portion.
9. The invention of claim 1, wherein, for step (a), the network is an optical network, each node is an optical switch, and each link is an optical link.
10. The invention of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented as steps executed by a processor.
11. A method of allocating link capacity for a plurality of restorable connections transferring data through a network, the method comprising the steps of:
(a) generating a graph of the network, wherein the network includes a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of links;
(b) forming a linear programming sizing problem based on the plurality of restorable connections, wherein i) each restorable connection defines a primary and a backup path for a demand and ii) the linear programming sizing problem tends to maximize a first objective function based on a first set of constraints;
(c) forming a dual of the linear programming sizing problem, wherein the dual tends to minimize a second objective function based on a second set of constraints;
(d) solving the dual to generate a scaling factor and routing of the primary path and the backup path for each of the plurality of restorable connections; and
(e) routing data of at least one of the plurality of restorable connections over a corresponding active path.
12. The invention of claim 11, further comprising the step of scaling, based on the scaling factor, either i) each capacity of the plurality of links or ii) each demand of the plurality of restorable connections.
13. The invention of claim 11, wherein, for step (b), the plurality of restorable connections are fast path restorable connections, and wherein:
the linear programming sizing problem maximizes the scaling factor as the objective function;
the first set of constraints are A) a sum of all flows on each link is less than the link’s capacity, B) each demand as a function of the scaling factor is routed through the network, and C) each flow over a link is non-negative;
the dual minimizes a shortest path length through for each of the plurality of restorable connections;
the second set of constraints are D) a sum of all link lengths is less than the minimum shortest path length, E) each demand as a function of the minimum path length is routed through the network, and F) each link length is non-negative.
14. The invention of claim 13, wherein, for step (b) each restorable connection is a fast path restorable connection with non-shared backup, and wherein the shortest path length is determined for a set of disjoint path pairs corresponding to each restorable connection.
15. The invention of claim 13, wherein, for step (b), each restorable connection is a fast path restorable connection with shared backup, and wherein the shortest path length is determined for a set of disjoint path sets corresponding to each restorable connection.
16. The invention of claim 11, wherein, for step (a), the network is an optical network, each node is an optical switch, and each link is an optical link.
17. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement a method for allocating demands of a plurality of restorable connections transferring data through a network of nodes connected by links, the method comprising the steps of:
(a) initializing a link length of each link;
(b) routing a demand for a current restorable connection by the steps of:
(b1) generating a minimum path length for paths through nodes and links of the network for the current restorable connection, wherein the minimum path length is the least sum of link lengths for links of each path between a source and a destination node of the current restorable connection,
(b2) determining a path set of disjoint paths through nodes and links of the network for the current restorable connection based on the minimum path length,
(b3) routing a portion of a remainder of the demand as flows over the path set, wherein the portion is based on a lesser value of the remainder of the demand and a minimum capacity of links in the optimal path set,
(b4) updating i) the link length of each link based on the routed portion and a capacity of the link and ii) the remainder of the demand, and
(b5) repeating steps (b1)-(b5) until the demand is routed;

(d) repeating step (b) for each restorable connection;
(e) generating a scaling value based on a maximum ratio of a flow over a link and a capacity of the link.
18. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement a method for allocating link capacity through a network having a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of links, the method comprising the steps of:
(a) generating a graph of the network, wherein the network includes a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of links;
(b) forming a linear programming sizing problem based on the plurality of restorable connections, wherein i) each restorable connection defines a primary and a backup path for a demand and ii) the linear programming sizing problem tends to maximize a first objective function based on a first set of constraints;
(c) forming a dual of the linear programming sizing problem, wherein the dual tends to minimize a second objective function based on a second set of constraints;
(d) solving the dual to generate a scaling factor and routing of the primary path and the backup path for each of the plurality of restorable; and
(e) routing data of at least one of the plurality of restorable connections over a corresponding active path.