# US 12,003,410 B2 · Method and apparatus for establishing forwarding path, and computer-readable storage medium > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,003,410 B2 - Document ID: US12003410B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/947,316 - Filed: 2022-09-19 - Published: 2023-01-19 - Granted: 2024-06-04 - Earliest claimed: 2020-03-20 - Assignees: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. - Applicants: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. - Inventors: Jie Dong; Zongpeng Du; Xiaodong Chang - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12003410B2 ## CPC - H04L 45/34: {Source routing} - H04L 41/00: Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks - H04L 45/123: {Evaluation of link metrics (techniques for monitoring network metrics H04L43/08)} - H04L 45/24: Multipath - H04L 45/28: using route fault recovery - H04L 47/762: triggered by the network - H04L 47/78: Architectures of resource allocation - H04L 41/5019: Ensuring fulfilment of SLA - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) ## Abstract A method and an apparatus for establishing a forwarding path, the method including obtaining, by a first network node, path information of a to-be-established forwarding path, where the path information comprises an identifier of a network node on the forwarding path and a transmission resource requirement that needs to be allocated by the network node to the forwarding path, and sending a path establishment request packet based on the path information, where a packet header of the path establishment request packet comprises the path information, and where the path establishment request packet triggers the network node to allocate a transmission resource to the forwarding path based on the transmission resource requirement. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for establishing a forwarding path, comprising: obtaining, by a first network node, path information of a to-be-established forwarding path, wherein the path information comprises an identifier of a network node on the forwarding path and a transmission resource requirement that needs to be allocated by the network node to the forwarding path; and sending a path establishment request packet based on the path information, wherein a packet header of the path establishment request packet comprises the path information, wherein the path information is carried in a segment routing header (SRH) of a path establishment request packet, and wherein the path establishment request packet triggers the network node to allocate a transmission resource to the forwarding path based on the transmission resource requirement. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmission resource requirement comprises a quantity of target slots or a target bandwidth, wherein the quantity of target slots is a quantity of slots required by the network node to forward a service flow, and wherein the target bandwidth is a bandwidth required by the network node to forward the service flow. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the path information comprises a segment identifier list, wherein the segment identifier list comprises a segment identifier (SID) of the network node, and wherein an SID of one network node comprises an identifier of the network node and a transmission resource requirement that needs to be allocated by the network node to the forwarding path; and wherein the method further comprises: allocating a transmission resource to the forwarding path from a transmission resource of an outbound interface based on a transmission resource requirement in an SID of the first network node in the segment identifier list, wherein the outbound interface is an outbound interface that is of the first network node and that is connected to a second network node, and wherein the second network node is a next-hop network node of the first network node on the forwarding path. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method according to claim 3, wherein the allocating the transmission resource to the forwarding path comprises: allocating an outbound interface slot to the forwarding path from a slot of the outbound interface based on the transmission resource requirement comprised in the SID of the first network node. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method according to claim 4, further comprising performing, after the allocating the outbound interface slot to the forwarding path from the slot of the outbound interface: sending an inbound interface resource request message to the second network node, wherein the inbound interface resource request message indicates to the second network node to allocate an inbound interface slot to the forwarding path based on the outbound interface slot allocated by the first network node to the forwarding path. ### Claim 6 (depends on 4) The method according to claim 4, wherein the allocating the outbound interface slot to the forwarding path from the slot of the outbound interface comprises: determining a quantity of target slots based on the transmission resource requirement comprised in the SID of the first network node, wherein the quantity of target slots is a quantity of slots required by the network node to forward a service flow; and allocating outbound interface slots of the quantity of target slots to the forwarding path from the slot of the outbound interface. ### Claim 7 (depends on 3) The method according to claim 3, further comprising: generating a path establishment failure response in response to the transmission resource failing to be allocated to the forwarding path, wherein the path establishment failure response indicates that the forwarding path fails to be established. ### Claim 8 (depends on 3) The method according to claim 3, further comprising performing, after the allocating the transmission resource to the forwarding path from a transmission resource of the outbound interface: establishing a mapping relationship between the forwarding path and the transmission resource allocated by the first network node to the forwarding path. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, further comprising performing at least one of: receiving a path establishment response packet sent by an egress network node on the forwarding path, wherein the path establishment response packet indicates that the forwarding path is established; or receiving a resource allocation complete response packet sent by each network node on the forwarding path, and determining, based on the resource allocation complete response packet sent by each network node on the forwarding path, that the forwarding path is successfully established; and wherein the method further comprises: sending an identifier of the forwarding path and information corresponding to the forwarding path to another device on a network after determining that the forwarding path is successfully established. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, further comprising performing, before obtaining a segment identifier list corresponding to the to-be-established forwarding path: sending available transmission resource information to another device on a network, wherein the available transmission resource information indicates an unallocated transmission resource on each interface of the first network node. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, further comprising obtaining a segment identifier list corresponding to the to-be-established forwarding path by performing at least one of: receiving the segment identifier list sent by a control node; determining the segment identifier list based on a service requirement of a service flow; or obtaining the segment identifier list from configuration information. ### Claim 12 An apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and a non-transitory computer readable medium having a computer program stored thereon for execution by the one or more processors to establish a forwarding path and act as a first network node, the computer program including instructions to: obtain path information corresponding to a to-be-established forwarding path, wherein the path information comprises an identifier of a network node on the forwarding path and a transmission resource requirement that needs to be allocated by the network node to the forwarding path; and send a path establishment request packet based on the path information, wherein a packet header of the path establishment request packet comprises the path information wherein the path information is carried in a segment routing header (SRH) of a path establishment request packet, and wherein the path establishment request packet triggers the network node to allocate a transmission resource to the forwarding path based on the transmission resource requirement. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the path information comprises a segment identifier list, wherein the segment identifier list comprises a segment identifier (SID) of the network node, and wherein an SID of one network node comprises an identifier of the network node and a transmission resource requirement that needs to be allocated by the network node to the forwarding path. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the computer program further includes instructions to: allocate the transmission resource to the forwarding path from a transmission resource of an outbound interface based on a transmission resource requirement comprised in an SID of the first network node in the segment identifier list, wherein the outbound interface is an outbound interface that is of the first network node and that is connected to a second network node, and wherein the second network node is a next-hop network node of the first network node on the forwarding path. ### Claim 15 (depends on 12) The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the transmission resource requirement comprises a quantity of target slots or a target bandwidth, wherein the quantity of target slots is a quantity of slots required by the network node to forward a service flow, and wherein the target bandwidth is a bandwidth required by the network node to forward the service flow. ### Claim 16 An apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and a non-transitory computer readable medium having a computer program stored thereon for execution by the one or more processors to establish a forwarding path and act as a second network node, the computer program including instructions to: receive a path establishment request packet, wherein a packet header of the path establishment request packet comprises path information, wherein the path information is carried in a segment routing header (SRH) of a path establishment request packet, and wherein the path information comprises an identifier of a network node on the forwarding path and a transmission resource requirement that needs to be allocated by the network node to the forwarding path; allocate a transmission resource to the forwarding path based on the path information; and send the path establishment request packet. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the path information comprises a segment identifier list, wherein the segment identifier list comprises a segment identifier (SID) of the network node, and wherein an SID of one network node comprises an identifier of the network node and a transmission resource requirement that needs to be allocated by the network node to the forwarding path. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the instructions to allocate the transmission resource to the forwarding path include instructions to: allocate the transmission resource to the forwarding path from a transmission resource of an outbound interface based on a transmission resource requirement comprised in an SID of the second network node in the segment identifier list, wherein the outbound interface is an outbound interface that is of the second network node and that is connected to a third network node, and the third network node is a next-hop network node of the second network node on the forwarding path. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the transmission resource requirement comprises at least one of a quantity of target slots or a target bandwidth, wherein the quantity of target slots is a quantity of slots required by the network node to forward a service flow, and wherein the target bandwidth is a bandwidth required by the network node to forward the service flow.