Patent ID: 8830998

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for packet switching in a Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) network, the computer-implemented method comprising: receiving a first control message at a first data switching device, the first data switching device functioning as a first Backbone Edge Bridge within a transport network using Shortest Path Bridging protocol, the first control message originating from a second data switching device, the second data switching device functioning as a second Backbone Edge Bridge within the transport network, the first control message indicating that the second data switching device is a transmitter node for a multicast data stream, the multicast data stream identified using an Internet Protocol (IP) Source Address, an IP Destination Address, a Virtual Local Area Network identifier, and a Data Service Instance Identifier (Data I-SID); in response to identifying that the first data switching device is a receiver node for the Data I-SID, generating a second control message indicating that the first data switching device is a receiver node for the multicast data stream identified using both the Data I-SID and a nickname of the second data switching device, the second control message being a different type of control message as compared to the first control message, the second control message structured such that a Backbone Core Bridge within the transport network uses the second control message for computing a multicast path within the transport network; transmitting the second control message to the second data switching device via the transport network; and receiving, at the first data switching device, data packets corresponding to the multicast data stream; and updating a link state database used by the first data switching device such that the link state database indicates that the second data switching device is the transmitter node for the Data I-SID; and building a forwarding table used by the first data switching device including refraining from creating forwarding entries for Data I-SIDs that are not linked to a specific nickname of a given data switching device.