Patent ID: 7710993

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for pseudowire processing in a packet forwarding device, the method comprising: determining whether an inbound port through which a packet has been transmitted to a packet forwarding device is a real port or a pseudowire port, wherein determining is performed in conjunction with inbound port information stored in at least one of a forwarding data base and an inbound label map of the packet forwarding device; encoding the inbound port through which the packet is transmitted in a value of a first index having a predefined range of values representing real ports and pseudowire ports, the value based on whether the inbound port is determined to be the real port or the pseudowire port in conjunction with the stored inbound port information; encoding an outbound port through which the packet will be transmitted in a value of a second index having a predefined range of values representing real ports and pseudowire ports; and performing outbound packet processing for the packet in a switch fabric of the packet forwarding device based on determining, within their respective predefined range of values, where the first index value and the second index value fall, including: determining whether the packet is transmitted through the packet forwarding device homogeneously, wherein the respective predefined ranges within which the first and second index values fall both represent real ports or both represent pseudowire ports, or heterogeneously, wherein the respective predefined ranges within which the first and second index values fall represent different types of ports, one representing a real port and the other representing a pseudowire port; performing echo kill processing for packets transmitted homogenously; and bypassing echo kill processing for packets transmitted heterogeneously.