Patent ID: 8218430

Claim:
A method for protecting a multicast traffic, comprising: setting up a backup path for a working path that needs to be protected, and pre-storing route information of the backup path in an entry of a route table; switching a multicast traffic from the working path to the backup path when a failure of the working path is detected; receiving a first traffic request from a downstream node through another normal path; replicating the multicast traffic to the normal path without stopping sending the multicast traffic to the backup path; receiving a first prune packet from the downstream node through the backup path and stopping sending the multicast traffic to the backup path; receiving a second traffic request from the downstream node through the working path after the working path restored; replicating the multicast traffic to the working path without stopping sending the multicast traffic to the normal path; receiving a second prune packet from the downstream node through the normal path and stopping sending the multicast traffic to the normal path; and wherein the setting up the backup path for the working path that needs to be protected, further comprises: designating a backup egress port as an egress port of a current node; designating a backup ingress port as an ingress port of the downstream node of the current node; and storing the backup egress port and the backup ingress port in the route information, wherein a path between the backup egress port and the backup ingress port is the backup path.