Patent ID: 8817596

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a backup node configured to couple to an ingress node of a protected point-to-multipoint (P2MP) label switched path (LSP) and to at least one next-hop node of the ingress node of the protected P2MP LSP via a backup tree, wherein the backup tree begins at the backup node, wherein the backup tree is configured to carry data packets that are redirected after detection of a failure in the ingress node, wherein the backup node and the ingress node are both coupled to an external node, wherein the backup node and the ingress node are edge nodes for a label switched network (LSN), wherein the external node delivers traffic to both the ingress node and the backup node, and wherein the backup node is configured to ensure that the data packets received at the backup node will continue to be delivered along the protected P2MP LSP by transmitting the data packets to the at least one next-hop node when the ingress node fails.