Patent ID: 8917729

Claim:
A packet-forwarding integrated circuit comprising: a control logic module; a selector block configured to produce a value indicating a state of a first physical link, wherein the control logic module outputs multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) packets associated with a plurality of label switched paths (LSPs) onto the first physical link using a first interface port engaged to the first physical link; and a memory to store a hardware version of a forwarding information base (FIB), the hardware version of the FIB including a plurality of entries addressable by the packet-forwarding integrated circuit, wherein each of the entries is associated with a different one of the plurality of LSPs, and identifies a primary forwarding next hop and a backup forwarding next hop for the respective associated LSP, wherein the selector block is configured to, in response to the control logic module addressing one of the entries of the hardware version of the FIB, provide one of the primary forwarding next hop and the backup forwarding next hop of the addressed entry for forwarding MPLS packets associated with the respective LSP for the entry based at least on the value indicating the state of the first physical link, and wherein the packet-forwarding integrated circuit is configured to forward the MPLS packets associated with the one of the plurality of LSPs to the one of the primary forwarding next hop and the backup forwarding next hop provided by the selector block.