Patent ID: 9065723
Filing Date: 2015-06-23
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for an unaddressed inline device (IUD) to send a packet to an upstream device in a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) network, the method comprising: identifying, at the IUD, the upstream device's address information, identifying, at the IUD, a downstream MPLS labeling; preparing, at the IUD, an outgoing packet which includes destination address information corresponding to the upstream device's address information, associated with MPLS labeling corresponding to the downstream MPLS labeling; sending, at the IUD, the prepared outgoing packet downstream from the IUD via the downstream output port; and whereby, downstream of the IUD, the MPLS network re-labels the outgoing packet in accordance with the outgoing packet's destination address information by replacing the downstream MPLS labeling with an upstream MPLS labeling associated with the outgoing packet's destination address information, and sends the re-labeled outgoing packet upstream to the upstream device; wherein the method further comprises receiving, at the IUD, a first packet from the upstream device, and wherein: the upstream device's address information and the downstream MPLS labeling is identified from the first packet; the outgoing packet's MPLS labeling is set to the downstream MPLS labeling by copying the first packet into the outgoing packet; and the outgoing packet's destination address information is set to the upstream device's address information by swapping the source and destination addresses of the outgoing packet.