The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 23, 2015
Filed:
Mar. 28, 2012
Michael Stevens, Fountain, CO (US);
Vonn L. Black, Colorado Springs, CO (US);
Mark Barrett, Monument, CO (US);
Michael Stevens, Fountain, CO (US);
Vonn L. Black, Colorado Springs, CO (US);
Mark Barrett, Monument, CO (US);
JDS Uniphase Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
An unaddressed device installed inline in a path of an MPLS network can communicate a packet from within the MPLS network to an upstream device without knowledge of the necessary MPLS labeling by sending the packet intentionally in the wrong direction: downstream. To communicate to an upstream device, the unaddressed device sends a packet downstream into the MPLS network on the opposite side and through the opposite outgoing port from that which would be used for a packet sent to the same device in a non-MPLS network. This behavior forces the MPLS network, when it next inspects the packet, to re-label it with the correct labeling to route the packet on a path back upstream to the recipient device. In this manner, the MPLS architecture is used to redirect or loop back packets from an unaddressed inline device to the upstream device.