Patent ID: 8923293

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for forwarding a packet with a hierarchically structured variable-length identifier (HSVLI) in a network, wherein the computer includes a processor, the method comprising: receiving a packet which contains an interest for a piece of content, wherein the interest includes an address-independent HSVLI; wherein the HSVLI identifies a specific piece of content without identifying a network address or a storage location for the piece of content, and wherein the HSVLI is hierarchically structured and comprises contiguous name components ordered from a most general level to a most specific level; and determining forwarding information for the packet based on the HSVLI, wherein determining the forwarding information involves: identifying a forwarding information entry that has the longest prefix match with the HSVLI by matching the name components of the HSVLI with the name components of the forwarding information entries, wherein the longest prefix match has the largest number of matched name components; and determining, from the identified forwarding information entry, one or more interfaces for forwarding the interest; and forwarding the packet to one or more of the determined interfaces.