Patent ID: 8537827

Claim:
A communication system for establishing a communication path in which a data packet is transferred using labels each being assigned to a data link connecting each pair of adjacent nodes along the communication path, the communication system comprising: an origination node positioned at an end of the communication path; a termination node positioned at the other end of the communication path; and one or more relay nodes positioned between the origination node and the termination node along the communication path, wherein the origination node is configured to create a path message for requesting establishment of the communication path, and to provide each of downstream nodes with the path message, the path message including route information identifying a sequence of nodes and interfaces along the communication path, the downstream nodes being nodes positioned in a downstream direction from the origination node towards the termination node along the communication path; and the each of the downstream nodes is configured to perform, on a predetermined condition, label assignment processing for assigning a label to a data link connecting the each of the downstream nodes and an adjacent upstream node, the adjacent upstream node being defined as a node adjacent to the each of the downstream nodes in an upstream direction from the termination node toward the origination node along the communication path, wherein the each of the one or more relay nodes performs the label assignment processing, on the predetermined condition of being provided with label assignment request information for requesting the label assignment processing, the label assignment request information being provided for the each of the one or more relay nodes without depending on the label assignment processing performed on other nodes of the downstream nodes, so that the label assignment processing is concurrently performed on the each of the downstream nodes to reduce a processing time needed for establishing the communication path coupling the origination and termination nodes through the one or more relay nodes.