Patent ID: 7773596
Filing Date: 2010-08-10
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for distributing traffic flow criteria between network devices, the method comprising: defining a flow specification data type for a routing protocol, wherein the flow specification data type allows a variable number of packet flow attributes to be specified for a packet flow through a network; generating, with a first routing device, a message that encodes routing topology information, wherein the routing topology information defines at least one route between a first network device and a second network device, and traffic flow criteria specifying the packet flow in accordance with the flow specification data type; and communicating, with the first routing device, the message to a second routing device to direct the second routing device to control network traffic based on the traffic flow criteria, wherein the traffic flow criteria comprises source information that identifies a source network device of the packet flow, wherein the traffic flow criteria specifies an appropriate action that is performed on the network packet.