Patent ID: 7450578

Claim:
A method of routing IP packets within a node of a network, comprising: receiving a packet at a first interface circuit within the node, the packet being an IP packet and including a label stack, the label stack including an external routing label for use in forwarding between nodes along a label-switched path; pushing, at the first interface, an internal routing label on to the label stack of the packet to create a modified packet, the internal routing label specifying a packet type; the internal routing label further specifying an address for a second interface circuit within the node if the packet type is of a first type, and specifying the address of the first interface circuit if the packet type is of a second type, the second type being a type indicative of a control packet; routing with a switch within the node the modified packet to the second interface circuit specified in the internal routing label in response to the packet type being indicative of a first type and to a control circuit associated with the second type if the packet is of the second type.