Patent ID: 7522601

Claim:
A packet-based communication network having different speed path-rated routing devices, comprising: at least one slow-path routing device on the network having one or more inputs that receive information packets on the network and one or more outputs that transmit information packets onto the network, an information packet containing a slow-path identifier if that information packet requires slow-path routing; said at least one slow-path routing device having a first processor coupled to said inputs and said outputs, said first processor parsing address header information in at least one of the information packets including examining one or more flag values in said at least one of the information packets and processing said at least one of the information packets according to slow-path routing techniques, and transmitting said at least one of the information packets to one of said outputs for directing to any other slow-path routing device on the network if said at least one of the information packets possesses the slow-path identifier; at least one fast-path routing device on the network having one or more inputs to receive information packets on the network, said at least one fast path routing device processing information packets not having the slow-path routing identifier and neither parsing header information nor analyzing said at least one of the information packets according to slow-path routing requirements, said slow-path identifier including flag value that indicates if the corresponding information packet should be forwarded to a slow-path routing device on the network.