Patent ID: 9749204
Date: 2017-08-29
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method of transferring data packets across a multi-path network having a plurality of network elements interconnected by network links in such a manner to insure ordered receipt of the data packets at an egress port, the method comprising: for each data packet transferred across the multi-path network and arriving at the egress port of the multi-path network via a data packet path having one or more network elements with at least one network link attached thereto, issuing a delivery acknowledgement from the egress port concerned acknowledging the arrived data packet; transmitting the delivery acknowledgment across the network following in reverse the path taken by the data packet being acknowledged; and at the one or more network elements in the data packet path and in response to the receipt of the delivery acknowledgement received by that network element, individually updating a state value stored by the network element for each network link connected to the network element which is in the data packet path taken by the data packet being acknowledged; wherein each network link in the data packet path of a first data packet being transmitted across the network is individually assigned exclusively to subsequent data packets having the same ordering requirement as said first data packet until a delivery acknowledgement of the most recent preceding data packet having the same ordering requirement is transmitted by an exclusively assigned link; wherein the network elements dynamically route data packets across the multi-path network, and the dynamic routing of data packets across the network by a network element is selectively disabled with respect to matching data packets that have ordering requirements matching at least one preceding data packet for which no acknowledgement has been received by the network element thus insuring that such matching data packets follow the same path and thus are received at the egress port in order and, upon receipt of the acknowledgement, dynamic routing is again enabled by the network element with respect to matching data packets that have ordering requirements matching at least one preceding data packet.