Patent ID: 8428072

Claim:
A method of advertising a route for transmitting data packets in a network, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining in a first network element a metric indicative of a cost for routing a packet from the first network element to a second network element, sending from the first network element a route advertising message, the message advertising a first route towards the second network element through said first network element and including information of the obtained metric; and comparing the obtained metric with a metric received by the first network element in a route advertisement message advertising a second route towards the second network element, wherein the step of sending the route advertising message takes place if the obtained metric indicates a lower cost than the received metric; wherein the obtained metric and the received metric comprise a first and a second information element, each element comprising, respectively, information relative to a magnitude of a cost for routing a packet to the second network element, and a unit type in which the cost is measured, wherein the step of comparing comprises the step of comparing magnitudes of equal unit types.