Patent ID: 9674054
Date: 2017-06-06
CPC Classifications: H04L,H04W

Claim:
1. An apparatus configured to forward a data packet from a source network entity to a destination network entity, the apparatus comprising: a memory having computer readable instructions stored therein; and a processor configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to, first receive the data packet; select the destination network entity from a plurality of destination network entities based on a load balancing criterion; forward the received data packet to the destination network entity; second receive a response data packet from the destination network entity, the response data packet including information on a data packet association, the data packet association being an association between a plurality of different data packets belonging to a data session between a data source and a data destination; third receive an associated data packet from a different source network entity, the associated data packet being received after the response data packet, the associated data packet belonging to the data session and including the information on the data packet association; and store the information on the data packet association and information associated with the destination network entity, wherein the processor is further configured to, select the destination network entity based on the information on the data packet association; and forward the associated data packet to the destination network entity; wherein the information on the data packet association in the response data packet is identical to the information on the data packet association in the associated data packet, and the information on the data packet association in the response data packet corresponds to a token of Multipath TCP.