Patent ID: 7483440

Claim:
A communications system for transmitting packets comprising: a network; a plurality of core provider (P) devices, provider edge (PE) devices and customer edge (CE) devices in communication with the network, including a first PE device, a first CE device sending a packet in communication with the first PE device, a second PE device in communication with the first PE device, and a second CE device to receive the packet in communication with the second PE device; and a controller which creates a first label switched path (LSP) through the PE devices defining a ring path such that the LSP starts and ends at the same PE node, a second LSP in a reverse direction to a direction of the first LSP, each packet has a label stack depth of three, the label stack has a ring label identifying the ring, a PE label identifying each PE within the ring, and a virtual private network (VPN) label identifying a CE device connected to one of the PE devices, wherein the first PE device first determines that the packet destination is the second CE device in communication with the second PE device, pushes the VPN label for the second CE device to the packet and also pushes the PE label for the second PE device, and the ring LSP label is pushed to the packet, and then transmits the packet to the network.