Patent ID: 7894447

Claim:
A method, comprising: a network device within a network receiving a digital transmission form from a source node, wherein the network device is configured to communicate via a plurality of network links, and wherein the digital transmission form specifies a particular digital object to be forwarded from the source node to a destination node, the digital transmission form is wholly separate from the particular digital object, and the digital transmission form includes information specifying a desired quality of service for transmission of the particular digital object; the network device sending information indicative of the desired quality of service downstream via at least one of the plurality of network links; the network device receiving network link information in response to sending the information indicative of the desired quality of service, wherein the received network link information indicates that a first network link satisfies the desired quality of service; based on the received network link information, the network device modifying the digital transmission form to include routing information specifying a path within the network for the particular digital object, wherein the path includes the first network link; the network device receiving at least one portion of the particular digital object; and the network device transmitting the at least one portion of the particular digital object and the modified digital transmission form downstream via one of the plurality of network links according to the routing information.