Patent ID: 8064440

Claim:
A source end node for use with avoiding Internet Protocol (IP) lookup with Multipoint-to-Multipoint (MP2MP) Label Switched Paths (LSPs) in a computer network, the source end node comprising: one or more network interfaces; a processor coupled to the one or more network interfaces and adapted to execute software processes; and a memory adapted to store an MP2MP LSP process executable by the processor, the MP2MP LSP process configured to: i) receive a join request from a client node coupled to the source end node via one of the network interfaces, the join request indicating a desire to join a particular IP stream of a plurality of IP streams; ii) in response to receipt from the client node of the join request indicating the desire to join the particular IP stream, communicate with a root node of a MP2MP LSP that carries traffic for the plurality of IP streams including the particular IP stream, to learn an inner-label uniquely identifying the particular IP stream, the same inner-label for use by all of a plurality of source end nodes of the MP2MP LSP for the particular IP stream in the computer network, and iii) source traffic for the particular IP stream onto the MP2MP LSP, the MP2MP LSP process to include in the sourced traffic the inner-label uniquely identifying the particular IP stream.