Patent ID: 7643421
Filing Date: 2010-01-05
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A packet forwarding apparatus for connecting a first communication apparatus and a second communication apparatus via a network, said packet forwarding apparatus comprising: a memory; and a processor, wherein the packet forwarding apparatus is connected to a plurality of packet processing apparatuses for processing a packet, and wherein the packet forwarding apparatus transmits a packet addressed to the second communication apparatus received from the first communication apparatus to one of said plurality of packet processing apparatuses, and the packet forwarding apparatus transmits the packet processed by said one of plurality of packet processing apparatuses to the second communication apparatus, and wherein the processor decides more than one relay candidate based on information specifying a service level of a user of the first communication apparatus and a service level of a user of the packet processing apparatuses, and decides one packet processing apparatus from the decided more than one relay candidate to be processing the packets received from the first communication apparatus for each user according to a specific algorithm, wherein correspondence information between information specifying the user of the first communication apparatus and information specifying the decided packet processing apparatus is stored in said memory, and wherein the packet forwarding apparatus transmits the packet received from the first communication apparatus including information specifying the user of the first communication apparatus to the decided one packet processing apparatus based on the correspondence information.