Patent ID: 7969898

Claim:
A method for breaking a loop formed from looping alternate paths associated with a prefix, the method comprising: identifying, with a processor at a first node, at least one non-looping alternate path associated with the prefix in response to detection of the loop at the first node, the at least one non-looping alternate path being for a second node and excluding the first node, the first and second nodes being in a communications network, the prefix being for routing of network traffic in the communications network; transmitting a loop break message from the first node to a third node in response to identifying the at least one non-looping alternate path for the second node at the first node, the third node being in the loop, the loop break message comprising the at least one non-looping alternate path for the second node and an identity of each node in the loop; and setting a non-routed path associated with the prefix at the third node that intersects the at least one non-looping alternate path as a replacement alternate path for the third node in response to receipt of the loop break message at the third node.