Patent ID: 8089964

Claim:
A router-implemented method comprising: receiving, from a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network, a transport network frame comprising a first reverse path forwarding label (RPF-label) and a first multicast packet, wherein said receiving is performed by a first network interface of a first edge router of the MPLS network, and the first RPF-label and the first multicast packet were transmitted from a second edge router of the MPLS network; determining whether the first RPF-label is associated with a first virtual interface on the first edge router, wherein the first virtual interface corresponds to the second edge router of the MPLS network, the first RPF-label identifies the second edge router as an ingress point where a multicast datastream enters the MPLS network, the first multicast packet is a packet of the multicast datastream, the first edge router provided the first RPF-label to the second edge router previous to the receiving the transport network frame, and said determining is performed by a processor of the first edge router; determining whether a source address within the first multicast packet is associated with the first virtual interface; and transmitting the first multicast packet in response to determining the first RPF-label and the source address are associated with the first virtual interface, wherein said transmitting is performed by a second network interface of the first edge router.