Auswahlverfahren für Nachrichtenpfade in Kommunikationssystemen

In multilink capable transport protocols, e.g. Stream Control Transmission Protocol SCTP, several paths or links exist between two endpoints (110, 120). Whilst a communication system (100) is operating with this type of transport protocol, situations arise wherein a path (140,142) must be selected for the transmission of messages, such as if for reasons of redundancy a message should be transmitted on different paths (140,142), or when a path (140) is disturbed and the object is to select a path (142) suitable for the message repetition. In accordance with the invention, it is provided that a further path (142) to the base path (140) is to be selected between a first (110) and a second (120) network element according to the following steps: determining an address (126B) of the second network element (120), said address characterizing the base path (140) for the transmission of messages from the first network element (110) to the second network element (120); determining the level of the address, characterizing the base path (140), of the second network element (120); determining a further address (128B) of the second network element (120) with the same level; and selecting the path, characterized by the further address (128B), for the transmission of messages from the first network element (110) to the second network element (120).