Patent ID: 8611355

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for virtually routing a first data stream from a source to a destination through a plurality of interconnected routers, comprising: (a) receiving, at a virtual routing server, an initial packet in the first data stream; in response to receipt of the initial packet of the first data stream: (b) transmitting the initial packet with routing instructions indicating, to downstream routers from the virtual routing server to the destination, how to route the initial packet to the destination; (c) determining a first path through plurality of interconnected routers from the source to the destination; (d) for respective routers along the first path, determining a routing table indicating which port of the router to route data from the first data stream along the first path determined in (c); (e) for each of the respective routers, transmitting the routing table determined in (d) to configure the router; repeatedly until the respective routers are configured to route data from the first data stream along the first path: (f) receiving an additional packet from the first data stream; and (g) transmitting the additional packet with the routing instructions indicating to the downstream routers how to route the additional packet to the destination.