Patent ID: 9525623
Filing Date: 2016-12-20
CPC Classification: H04L

Claim Text:
1. A method for communication, comprising: configuring routers in a packet data network to forward packets over the network in accordance with Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) labels appended to the packets; defining a pipe through the network having an ingress and an egress and traversing a sequence of the routers between the ingress and the egress, and specifying for the pipe an outer label that indicates a first quality of service for the packets in the pipe; upon receiving at the ingress a packet for transmission through the pipe, appending the outer label to the packet, and forwarding the packet with the outer label through the pipe; at each of the routers in the sequence, up to a transitional router in proximity to the egress, forwarding the packet through the pipe in accordance with the outer label at the first quality of service; and at the transitional router, popping the outer label from the packet, identifying, based on a field remaining in the packet after popping the outer label, a second quality of service, different from the first quality of service, and forwarding the packet through the egress from the pipe toward a destination of the packet at the second quality of service.