Method for network coding packets in content-centric networking based networks

A method in a content router for retrieving content in a content centric network, comprising:

• receiving a request for content from a content consumer, wherein the content comprises a plurality of content chunks;
• forwarding the request to multiple network nodes;
• receiving a plurality of reply packets from one or more of the multiple network nodes, wherein each of the reply packets comprises a linear combination of the plurality of content chunks, wherein each linear combination of the plurality of content chunks is linearly independent of the other linear combinations of the plurality of content chunks, and wherein each reply packet comprises coefficients used to create the linear combination of the plurality of content chunks;
• and
• decoding with a processor the plurality of packets to obtain the decoded plurality of content chunks.

A content router in a content centric network, comprising:

• a receiver configured to receive a request for content, wherein the request comprises a content name, wherein the content comprises a plurality of content chunks;
• a processor coupled to the receiver and configured to determine a plurality of network nodes containing at least some of the content chunks;
• and
• a transmitter configured to forward the request to the plurality of network nodes,
• wherein the receiver is further configured to receive a plurality of reply packets from at least some of the plurality of network nodes,
• wherein each reply packet comprises a linear combination of the plurality of content chunks and an indicator of the integer coefficients used by the one of the plurality of network nodes to create the linear combination, and
• wherein the processor is further configured to obtain the plurality of content chunks from the plurality of reply packets using the linear combination of the plurality of content chunks from each of the plurality of reply packets and the integer coefficients associated with each linear combination.