Patent ID: 9692687
Date: 2017-06-27
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method, comprising: determining, by a first node, a first Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) label that is associated with a Forwarding Equivalence Class (FEC) of a destination node and a first u-turn label that is associated with the FEC of the destination node and that is associated with at least one other FEC; receiving, at the first node from a second node, a packet intended for the destination node; selecting, at the first node based on inclusion of the first u-turn label within the packet, a routing path for routing the packet toward the destination node, wherein the routing path for routing the packet toward the destination node comprises a third node; determining, at the first node, a second u-turn label for the packet and a second LDP label for the packet, wherein the second u-turn label is configured to indicate to the third node that u-turn routing was performed upstream of the third node; forming a modified packet at the first node by replacing the first u-turn label received in the packet with the second u-turn label and replacing the first LDP label received in the packet with the second LDP label; and forwarding the modified packet from the first node toward the third node for routing the modified packet toward the destination node based on the routing path.