Patent ID: 7796601

Claim:
A method of operating an Internet Protocol (IP) network comprising a plurality of routers, the method comprising: transferring a first IP packet addressed to a first IP address and indicating a second IP address and routing the first IP packet through a first set of the routers based on the first IP address; in response to the first IP packet, transferring first route priority messages indicating the second IP address from the first set of the routers to other ones of the routers that are directly linked to the first set of the routers; in the other routers that are directly linked to the first set of the routers, lowering route priority to the first set of routers for the second IP address in response to the first route priority messages; transferring a second IP packet addressed to the second IP address and indicating the first IP address and routing the second IP packet through a second set of the routers based on the second IP address; in response to the second IP packet, transferring second route priority messages indicating the first IP address from the second set of the routers to other ones of the routers that are directly linked to the second set of the routers; and in the other routers that are directly linked to the second set of the routers, lowering route priority to the second set of the routers for the first IP address in response to the second route priority messages.