Patent ID: 8305959

Claim:
A method comprising: establishing a first segment of a label switched path between a first label edge router and a first area label edge router, including: creating, at the first label edge router, a mobility binding for a mobile node registered at the first label edge router, sending, from the first label edge router to a first route reflector, the mobility binding in an internal update message, associating, at the first route reflector, the mobility binding with a last requester list (LRL) that includes a list of area identifiers of network devices associated with requests for the mobility binding and with an internal LRL that includes a list of router identifiers of label edge routers associated with requests for the mobility binding, reflecting, at the first route reflector, the mobility binding to the first area label edge router, allocating, for the mobile node, a local mobility label that is unique for mobile nodes in an area of the first area label edge router, modifying, at the first area label edge router, the mobility binding by substituting a mobility label in the mobility binding with the local mobility label, and sending, from the first area label edge router, the modified mobility binding to the first route reflector; establishing a second segment of the label switched path between a second label edge router and a second area label edge router; receiving, from the mobile node, a packet at the second label edge router; forwarding, via the second segment of the label switched path, the packet from the second label edge router to the second area label edge router; determining, at the second area label edge router, whether a third segment of the label switched path exists between the first area label edge router and the second area label edge router; establishing the third segment of the label switched path, between the first area label edge router and the second area label edge router, when the second area label edge router determines that the third segment of the label switched path does not yet exist; forwarding the packet from the second area label edge router to the first area label edge router over the third segment of the label switched path; and forwarding, via the first segment of the label switched path, the packet from the first area label edge router to the first label edge router.