Patent ID: 8543727

Claim:
A device for routing a unit of data in a network, the device comprising: a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that determines a destination of the unit of data; a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that assigns the unit of data a label based on the destination of the unit of data; a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that selects a routing record from one or more routing records based on the label, the one or more routing records alterable by one or more application providers, the one or more routing records comprising application provider associated information alterable by each associated application provider; and a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that forwards the unit of data over a path identified in the routing record; a processing means operable to select the routing record by identifying one of the routing records that comprises information that corresponds to the label assigned to the unit of data, and additional information that corresponds to originating application information, specific to a particular application provider, contained in the unit of data.