Patent ID: 7995593

Claim:
A method for operating a path computation client (PCC) comprising: generating, at the PCC, a path computation request for a path that spans one or more remote domains; transmitting the path computation request to a path computation element (PCE); receiving, from the PCE, a response that comprises a computed path that includes a loose hop, wherein the loose hop indicates an entry point to a remote domain, and an exit point from the remote domain or a destination, while maintaining hops internal to the remote domain confidential, and an encrypted path segment corresponding to the loose hop and indicating hops internal to the remote domain, the encrypted path segment encrypted according to an encryption algorithm associated with the remote domain; generating, at the PCC, a path reservation message that includes both the computed path and the encrypted path segment, without decrypting the encrypted path segment at the PCC; and transmitting the path reservation message to one or more nodes along the path.