# US 2022/0103660 A1 · Protocol processing method and apparatus, and storage medium > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2022/0103660 A1 - Document ID: US20220103660A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 17/427,636 - Filed: 2020-01-21 - Published: 2022-03-31 - Earliest claimed: 2019-02-02 - Assignees: Zte Corporation - Applicants: Zte Corporation - Inventors: Benchong XU; Fang HU; Huilai WANG - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20220103660A1 ## CPC - H04L 45/24: Multipath - H04L 69/03: {Protocol definition or specification (protocol conformance testing H04L1/244)} - H04L 69/24: Negotiation of communication capabilities - H04L 69/26: {Special purpose or proprietary protocols or architectures (network applications for proprietary or special purpose networking environments H04L67/12)} - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) ## Abstract A protocol processing method and apparatus, and a storage medium are provided. The method includes: carrying a leaf-transfer capability identifier in an RIFT protocol, the leaf-transfer capability identifier being configured to indicate that a first node that carries the leaf-transfer capability identifier supports other leaf nodes within a network to access the network through the first node. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A protocol processing method, comprising: carrying a leaf-transfer capability identifier in an routing in fat tree (RIFT) protocol, wherein the leaf-transfer capability identifier is configured to indicate that a first node that carries the leaf-transfer capability identifier supports other leaf nodes within a network to access the network through the first node. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, further comprising: establishing a neighbor relation between two leaf nodes carrying a leaf-transfer capability, wherein in response to that all the leaf nodes in a subnet of the network support the leaf-transfer capability, a current link, which is an east-west link, supports the leaf-transfer capability. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, further comprising: in response to that a second node in the network receives only a link information element (LIE) message of a leaf level and enables the leaf-transfer capability, determining the second node to be a leaf node and enabling a leaf-transfer function by the second node. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method according to claim 3, wherein determining the second node to be the leaf node and enabling the leaf-transfer function by the second node comprises at least one of: determining the second node to be the leaf node through configuration information, and enabling the leaf-transfer function by the second node; and determining the second node to be the leaf node in a learning mode, and enabling the leaf-transfer function by the second node. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The method according to claim 2, further comprising: flooding, by the leaf node, node topology information element (Node TIE) information on the link supporting the leaf-transfer capability, so that a neighbor node of the leaf node learns topology status information of the leaf node. ### Claim 6 (depends on 2) The method according to claim 2, further comprising: flooding, by the leaf node, local prefix information of the leaf node on the link supporting the leaf-transfer capability via a prefix topology information element (Prefix TIE). ### Claim 7 (depends on 2) The method according to claim 2, further comprising: flooding, by the leaf node with a northbound neighbor node, a prefix learned from a prefix southbound topology information element (Prefix S-TIE) of the neighbor node of the leaf node on the link supporting the leaf-transfer capability via a Prefix TIE. ### Claim 8 (depends on 6) The method according to claim 6, further comprising: after receiving the Prefix TIE, executing, by the leaf node, routing computation of routing in fat tree shortest path first (RIFT SPF), wherein a topology in the routing computation needs to contain the link supporting the leaf-transfer capability. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The method according to claim 7, further comprising: selecting, by the leaf node with the northbound neighbor node for a route with a same prefix, in response to that the route contains an egress interface and a next hop pointing to the northbound neighbor as well as an egress interface and a next hop pointing to an east-west neighbor, the egress interface and the next hop pointing to the northbound neighbor. ### Claim 10 A protocol processing apparatus, comprising: a processing module configured to carry a leaf-transfer capability identifier in an routing in fat tree (RIFT) protocol, wherein the leaf-transfer capability identifier is configured to indicate that a first node that carries the leaf-transfer capability identifier supports other leaf nodes within a network to access the network through the first node. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) A storage medium storing a computer program thereon, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, causes the method of claim 1 to be implemented.