Methods and apparatus for routing packets in packet transmission networks
US5309433A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 18, 1992 |
| Grant date | May 3, 1994 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 18, 2012 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L2012/5646
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A packet communications system provides for point-to-point packet routing and multicast packet routing to limited subsets of nodes in the network, using a routing field in the packet header which is processed according to two different protocols. A third protocol is provided in which a packet can be multicast to the limited subset even when launched from a node which is not a member of the subset. The routing field includes a first portion which contains the route labels necessary to deliver the packet to the multicast subset. A second portion of the routing field contains the multicast subset identifier which can then be used to deliver the packet to all of the members of the multicast subset. Provision is made to backtrack deliver the packet to the last node identified before the multicast subset if that last node is itself a member of the subset.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.