General internet method for routing packets in a communications network

A method for transmitting via a sequence of nodes a packet containing a routing context parameter comprising the steps of:

• at one of said nodes in which said packet is located, selecting a forwarding table from a set of forwarding tables maintained in a memory at said one node, which forwarding table is selected in response to said routing context parameter,
• retrieving an entry from said selected forwarding table in response to routing information contained in the packet, and
• transmitting said packet to a second node of said sequence of nodes indicated by said retrieved entry.

A method for transmitting a packet from a source node to a destination node via a sequence of intermediary nodes in a network comprising the steps of:

• at the source node, prior to transmission, writing in the packet a sequence of identifiers and a pointer pointing to a particular identifier in said sequence of identifiers,
• at one of said intermediary nodes in which said packet is located and where at said one intermediary node a forwarding table is maintained in a memory, retrieving an entry from said forwarding table in response to said particular identifier pointed to by said pointer, and
• transmitting said packet to a next node that is indicated by said retrieved entry.