Patent ID: 9246801
Filing Date: 2016-01-26
CPC Classification: H04L,H04Q

Claim Text:
1. A method comprising: receiving, with a first network device intermediately positioned along a label-switched path (LSP) through a network between an ingress to the LSP and an egress to the LSP, a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) data unit from a second network device of the network in accordance with a label switching protocol, wherein the data unit includes a label stack affixed to a payload, wherein the label stack includes two or more MPLS labels used for forwarding the data unit through the network and context information associated with at least two of the MPLS labels of the label stack, wherein the context information is arranged in the label stack to alternate between entries containing individual ones of the two or more MPLS labels and entries containing portions of the context information that pertains to the preceding one of the MPLS labels in the label stack and provides a context unused to forward the MPLS data unit and for understanding the associated at least two MPLS labels of the label stack, and wherein the context information identifies a packet flow transported by the data unit by specifying a source address, a source port, a destination address, a destination port and a protocol associated with the payload contained within the data unit; forwarding the data unit out an output interface of the first network device in accordance with the two or more MPLS labels of the label stack; when forwarding the data unit, parsing, with the first network device, the data unit to determine the context information; and recording, with the first network device, the forwarding of the data unit and the determined context information.