Patent ID: 8243728

Claim:
An apparatus for transmitting a packet through a tunnel communicably coupling a plurality of nodes in a packet switched network, the apparatus serving as one of the plurality of nodes, the apparatus comprising: a processor to: set a first pseudo wire defined as a communication path communicably coupling the apparatus and an end node within the tunnel, input a first packet from outside the tunnel, set a packet arrival identifier having an initial value to the first packet, the initial value identifying the end node from which the first packet is to be outputted from the tunnel to outside the tunnel, and transmit the first packet including the packet arrival identifier having the initial value through the first pseudo wire so that the end node selects, from among packets being transmitted through a plurality of pseudo wires being set within the tunnel, based on the packet arrival identifier, first one or more packets that are to be outputted from the tunnel to outside the tunnel at the end node; and a memory to store information on the tunnel and a plurality of pseudo wires being set within the tunnel.