Patent ID: 8923164

Claim:
A node for performing multiple rounds of forwarding tree computations to distribute traffic load on network links to other nodes in a network, the node comprising: a processor; and a memory that stores processor-executable instructions where the processor interfaces with the memory and executes the processor-executable instructions to: perform a first round of forwarding tree computations to determine forwarding trees for convergence sensitive traffic using standard Equal Cost Tree (ECT)-ALGORITHMS; perform a second round of forwarding tree computations to determine forwarding trees for non-sensitive traffic using opaque ECT-ALGORITHMS which take into account characteristics of a physical topology of the network with respect to equal cost, wherein the opaque ECT-ALGORITHMS have an Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI) which is different than an OUI of the standard ECT-ALGORITHMS; determine a cumulative link load for each network link after performing the first round of forwarding tree computations to determine the forwarding trees for the convergence sensitive traffic using the standard ECT-ALGORITHMS and then utilize the determined cumulative link loads when performing the second round of forwarding tree computations to determine the forwarding trees for the non-sensitive traffic using the opaque ECT-ALGORITHMS; and wherein each opaque ECT-ALGORITHM further includes a first four bit index and a second four bit index, wherein the first four bit index defines in which round the corresponding opaque ECT-ALGORITHM is computed and the second four bit index is used to select a standard mask applied on Bridge IDs.