Patent ID: 8064441

Claim:
A method comprising: a first router receiving a context label and a forwarding label from a second router, wherein the first and second routers are coupled to a LAN and the second router is an upstream router to the first router; the first router receiving a first incoming labeled data packet, wherein the first incoming labeled data packet comprises a first data packet and one or more first labels; the first router creating a first outgoing labeled data packet, wherein creating the first outgoing labeled data packet comprises an act of swapping the one or more first labels of the first incoming labeled data packet with the context label and the forwarding label, wherein the first outgoing labeled data packet comprises the first data packet, the context label, and the forwarding label; the first router transmitting the first outgoing labeled data packet to a third router via the LAN; the second router receiving a second incoming labeled data packet, wherein the second incoming labeled data packet comprises a second data packet and one or more second labels; and the second router creating a second outgoing labeled data packet, wherein creating the second outgoing labeled data packet comprises an act of swapping the one or more second labels of the second incoming labeled data packet with the context label and the forwarding label, wherein the second outgoing labeled data packet comprises the second data packet, the context label, and the forwarding label.