Centralized path computation for information-centric networking

A method comprising:

• receiving, by a controller, an interest packet header from a forwarding router node of a network overlay;
• determining, by the controller, without path computation, an interest path of the interest packet and one or more destination router nodes of the network overlay;
• computing, by the controller, one or more paths over the network overlay, wherein each destination router node of the one or more destination router nodes is included in only one path of the one or more paths;
• determining, by the controller, an addressing method for the one or more computed paths over the network overlay;
• performing, by the controller, at least one of:
• encoding each computed path in a data packet header;
• and
• encoding each computed path as state entries of each router node of the network overlay on each respective path;
• and
• returning, by the controller, the computed path information to the forwarding router node.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions executable by one or more processors of a controller, that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors of the controller to perform operations comprising:

• receiving an interest packet header from a forwarding router node of a network overlay;
• determining, without path computation, an interest path of the interest packet and one or more destination router nodes of the network overlay;
• computing one or more paths over the network overlay, wherein each destination router node of the one or more destination router nodes is included in only one path of the one or more paths;
• determining an addressing method for the one or more computed paths over the network overlay;
• performing at least one of:
• encoding each computed path in a data packet header;
• and
• encoding each computed path as state entries of each router node of the network overlay on each respective path;
• and
• returning the computed path information to the forwarding router node.