Patent ID: 7747753

Claim:
A method of establishing a virtual path for transferring packets, comprising: receiving, at a downstream layer 3 node of a first logical layer 3 network, a first path request message from an upstream layer 3 node of a second logical layer 3 network, the first path request message requesting that the virtual path pass between the upstream and downstream layer 3 nodes; and providing a first reservation message from the downstream layer 3 node to the upstream layer 3 node, the first reservation message responsive to the first path request message, the first reservation message having information identifying the virtual path passing between the upstream layer 3 node and the downstream layer 3 node for transferring, at a layer lower than the layer 3, the packets through the upstream layer 3 node and between (1) a third node upstream of the upstream layer 3 node and (2) the downstream layer 3 node along the virtual path.