Segment Routing over Internet Protocol Version 6 (“IPv6”) Data Plane (“SRv6”) Replication Segment Identifier (SID) for use with Point to Multipoint (P2MP) Signaling Protocols Such as mLDP and RSVP-TE

2:

• The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:
• d) receiving, by the router, a second control plane message from a second downstream router on the multicast tree, wherein the control plane message includes a second label and a tree identifier identifying the multicast tree;
• e) constructing, by the router, a second SRv6 SID in the LOC:FUNCT:ARG form, wherein the LOC part is a locator of the second downstream router and the FUNCT part is the second label included in the second control plane message received;
• and
• f) updating the entry in a forwarding table of the router so that the router replicates received traffic of this multicast tree to the downstream node using the both the SRv6 SID and the second SRv6 SID.

9:

• A computer-implemented method for use by a router on a multicast tree, the computer-implemented method comprising:
• a) constructing, an SRv6 SID in a LOC:FUNCT:ARG form for the multicast tree, wherein the LOC is a locator of the router and the FUNCT is to be signaled to an upstream router as a label;
• b) generating a control plane message including (1) the FUNCT part of the SRv6 SID as a label and (2) a tree identifier identifying the multicast tree;
• and
• c) transmitting the control plane message generated to an upstream router on the multicast tree.

12:

• A computer-implemented method for use with a router, the computer-implemented method comprising:
• a) processing first label information in a first control plane message from a first downstream router as an MPLS label;
• and
• b) processing second label information in a second control plane message from a second downstream router as FUNCTION bits of an SRv6 SID.

13:

• The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:
• c) sending third label information in a third control plane message to a first upstream router that is configured to treat the third label information in the third control plane message as a label for MPLS traffic replication, and
• d) sending fourth label information in a fourth control plane message to a second upstream router that is configured to treat the fourth information in the fourth control plane message as part of an SRv6 SID for SRv6 traffic replication,
• wherein the router and the first upstream router belong to a first multicast tree, and wherein the router and the second upstream router belong to a second multicast tree.