Patent ID: 8406243

Claim:
A method performed on a network element employing Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) to promulgate an alert to multiple Label Switch Routers (LSRs) along a Label Switch Path (LSP) by forwarding a labeled packet serving as an alert packet generated by an LSR in the LSP and to reduce latency in promulgating the alert to the multiple LSRs in the LSP, the method comprising the steps of: receiving the labeled packet by the network element from another LSR in the LSP; determining whether the labeled packet is the alert packet by checking a time to live (TTL) value in an MPLS label header of the labeled packet; and determining whether the labeled packet is an operation, administration and maintenance (OAM) packet based on a presence of a generic associated channel label (GAL), when the labeled packet is the OAM packet and the alert packet, then copying the labeled packet including a label stack of the labeled packet to create a copy of the labeled packet and forwarding the labeled packet to a next LSR in the LSP.