Patent ID: 8477787

Claim:
A method for routing a reverse message from a sink node to a source node via at least one intermediate node of a network comprising steps of: constructing reverse path routing information data comprising a combination of source routing information data accompanying a forward message, by appending a node address of the respective intermediate node to a source routing data field of the forward message unless a size of the source routing data field exceeds a maximum length and transparent bridging information data stored at a forwarding table in the at least one intermediate node during propagation of a forward message from the source node to the sink node via at least one intermediate node; receiving the forward message with reverse path routing information data; and routing the reverse message using the reverse path routing information data, wherein, when the size of the source routing data field exceeds a maximum length, an intermediate node removes a first address of the source routing data field and appends its node address to the end of the source routing data field.