Patent ID: 8526298

Claim:
A method comprising: forwarding, by a first node, first packets according to a first route, of a plurality of different routes, forwarding the first packets including: forwarding the first packets to a second node, of the plurality of nodes, that is downstream, along the first route, of the first node; determining, by the first node, failure of the second node; determining, by the first node and upon determining that the second node has failed, if the first node stores information regarding the plurality of different routes; forwarding, by the first node and upon determining that the first node stores the information regarding the plurality of different routes, second packets according to a second route, of the plurality of different routes, the second route not including the second node, the second route being created by merging a third route with a fourth route, the third route and the fourth route having similar constraints, and the third route and the fourth route having a common node after which the third route and the fourth route share at least one node and at least one link, the second route being different from the first route, and the first packets and the second packets being associated with a same flow of packets; and transmitting, by the first node and upon determining that the first node does not store the information regarding the plurality of different routes, a message to a third node, the third node being different than the second node.