Method and apparatus for incremental deployment of information centric network

A method for communication, comprising:

• receiving, by processing circuitry in an electronic device, a packet;
• detecting that the packet includes an Internet protocol (IP) header and an extension header to the IP header, and the extension header carries an information centric networking (ICN) identifier;
• extracting the ICN identifier from the extension header;
• and
• acting on the packet according to an action that is determined based on the ICN identifier.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform:

• receive a packet;
• detect that the packet includes an Internet protocol (IP) header and an extension header to the IP header, and the extension header carries an information centric networking (ICN) identifier;
• extract the ICN identifier from the extension header;
• and
• act on the packet according to an action that is determined based on the ICN identifier.

An electronic device, comprising:

• an interface circuit configured to receive and transmit signals carrying packets;
• and
• processing circuitry configured to:
• generate a packet with an Internet protocol (IP) header and an extension header that carries an information centric networking (ICN) identifier;
• and
• transmit the packet via the interface circuit.