Patent ID: 8320374

Claim:
A method for transmitting packets in a communication network comprising a plurality of nodes, comprising: encapsulating, at one of the nodes, a packet intended for at least one of the nodes, wherein the packet is encapsulated using a bit set comprising a plurality of bit positions associated with a respective plurality of processing modules of the nodes of the communication network, the bit positions of the bit set being set in a manner for identifying each of the at least one of the processing modules for which the packet is intended; for each of the plurality of interfaces of the one of the nodes including at least one network interface of the one of the nodes and at least one internal interface to at least one processing module of the one of the nodes, comparing the bit set of the packet and a bit mask of the interface, the bit mask comprising a plurality of bit positions associated with the respective plurality of processing modules of the nodes of the communication network, the bit positions of the bit mask being set in a manner for identifying each of the processing modules available from the interface; and for each of the interfaces for which a determination is made that the comparison of the bit set and the bit mask indicates that one of the processing modules for which the packet is intended is the same as one of the processing modules available from the interface, forwarding the packet over the interface.