Packet routing apparatus having label switching function
AssigneeHitachi, Ltd.
InventorsKazutomo Kon, Ken Watanabe, Kenji Ishida, Tokuhiro Niwa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A packet routing apparatus holds at the least one policy condition, and at the least one label corresponding to the respective policy condition. The packet routing apparatus receives a packet, and determines whether any layer information included in the packet information matches any policy conditions. If at the least one layer information matches any policy condition, a label corresponding to this policy condition is extracted. The packet routing apparatus attaches the label to the packet and transmits the packet.
Claims16
A packet routing apparatus for receiving a packet, and routing the received packet in accordance with packet information included in the packet, comprising:
- an interface portion connected to a plurality of networks for sending/receiving a packet to/from the respective networks;
- and
- a relay portion connected to said interface portion for receiving a packet from said interface portion, deciding a destination apparatus according to packet information included in the packet, and sending the packet to said interface portion,
- wherein said relay portion comprises:
- a storage portion for storing at the least one policy condition, and at the least one label corresponding to the respective policy condition;
- a determining portion which determines whether any layer information included in the packet information matches any policy condition stored in said storage portion, and when at the least one layer information matches any policy condition, reads out a label corresponding to this policy condition from said storage portion;
- and
- an attaching portion for receiving a label read out by said determining portion, and transmitting a packet to which this label has been attached;
- and wherein said interface portion sends the packet in accordance with said label.
A packet routing apparatus connected to a plurality of networks for receiving a packet from each of the networks, and routing a received packet to another network in accordance with packet information included in the packet, and comprising:
- a plurality of interface portions, each of which is connected to at the least one network for sending/receiving a packet to/from the network;
- a plurality of relay portions, each of which is connected to at the least one of said interface portions for receiving a packet from said interface portion, deciding a destination based on packet information included in the packet, and routing the packet either to another relay portion or to another interface portion according to the decided destination;
- a packet transmitting portion connected to said plurality of relay portions for transferring a packet transmitted from said relay portion to another relay portion;
- and
- at the least one policy routing portion connected to at the least one of said interface portions for sending/receiving a packet to/from said interface portion, said policy routing portion comprising:
- a storage portion for storing at the least one policy condition, and at the least one label corresponding to the respective policy condition;
- a determining portion which determines whether any layer information included in packet information matches any policy condition stored in said storage portion, and when at the least one layer information matches any policy condition, reads out a label corresponding to this policy condition from said storage portion;
- and
- an attaching portion for receiving a label read out by said determining portion, attaching this label to a packet, and transmitting the packet to said packet transmitting portion according to this label.
A packet routing method for routing a packet in accordance with packet information included in the packet, comprising the steps of:
- holding beforehand at the least one policy condition, and at the least one label corresponding to the respective policy condition;
- receiving a packet comprising packet information;
- determining whether any layer information included in packet information matches any of said policy conditions;
- when at the least one said layer information matches any of said policy conditions, extracting a label corresponding to this policy condition;
- attaching said extracted label to a received packet;
- and
- transmitting said received packet in accordance with said extracted label.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.