Patent ID: 8442043

Claim:
A method for providing service selection in a service insertion architecture data plane, the method comprising: generating, at a first service node, a first packet that includes unique service ordering information associated with a first logical service performed at the first service node; providing the first packet to a forwarding plane in the service insertion architecture as part of a service path, wherein in the service path is non-linear and forks into more than one branch; and providing the first packet to a second service node that is identified by the forwarding plane as a next hop location based on the unique service ordering information included in the first packet, wherein a second logical service in the service path is performed at the second service node, and wherein the service forwarding information includes a first traffic class identifier and a first sequence number associated with an ordering of the first logical service in the service path, and wherein the forwarding plane is configured to evaluate the first traffic class identifier and the first sequence number in a service insertion architecture (SIA) context against a switching table to determine the next hop, wherein if the first packet and a second packet have the same traffic class identifier, they will undergo the same set of services in the SIA plane.