Patent ID: 7254138

Claim:
A packet forwarding method for delivering data packets across a communications network, wherein the network comprises a set of ingress and egress ports, and provides routes for delivering packets among a set of nodes that interface with the network through the ingress and egress ports, with a set of nodes reachable to each other via the routes across the network referred to as a set of next-hop destinations to each other, and wherein the network determines whether to deliver a packet arrived on an ingress port to a particular egress port based at least in part on a forwarding identifier included in the packet and on network status, wherein the network status includes: i) current reachability of one or more of the set of next-hop destinations; and ii) current traffic load level on a route or routes across the network to one or more of the set of next-hop destinations, wherein the traffic load level on a route towards a next-hop destination is determined based at least in part on an amount of data currently queued in a data buffer for a future delivery on the route across the network to the next-hop destination associated with the buffer.