Patent ID: 8854965

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a first packet of a flow in a network node other than a source of the first packet, the first packet having an old value for a flow label; generating a new value for the flow label for the first packet, the new value comprising a combination of a flow identifier and at least one other information element, wherein the new value is different than the old value; applying, at the network node, the new value to the flow label of said first packet; forwarding, by the network node, the first packet with the new value for the flow label; receiving, at the network node, a second packet of the flow, the second packet having an old value for a flow label; assigning a new value for the flow label for the second packet, the new value comprising a combination of the flow identifier generated for the first packet and at least one other information element, wherein the new value is different than the old value; applying, at the network node, the new value to the flow label of said second packet; and forwarding, by the network node, the second packet with the new value for the flow label.