Patent ID: 8315261

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving Internet Protocol (IP) configuration data indicative of an association involving an IP address; processing a signaling payload in a received IP data packet without sending the signaling payload over a network link to a different node in a signaling network when an IP destination in an IP header portion of the IP data packet matches an IP address of a router and a next protocol field in the IP header indicates a Stream Control Transport Protocol (SCTP); routing the IP data packet based on header data in the IP header portion of the IP data packet if the signaling payload is not processed; determining a particular interface identifier for a local network interface through which the IP data packet was received; determining an owner interface identifier for a local network interface associated with a SCTP port in a list of open SCTP ports; determining whether data in an SCTP port field in a SCTP header indicates the SCTP port that matches a port in the list of open local SCTP ports; and determining whether the particular interface identifier matches the owner interface identifier.