INCREASING FAILURE COVERAGE IN HIERARCHICAL, REDUNDANT, MULTICAST ROUTING

摘要

An enhanced fast re-route mechanism provides increased failure coverage to a multicast communication network. If a network node detects a failure and determines that it cannot re-route multicast data, the network node sends a downstream fast notification packet (DFNP) in the network. The DFNP causes a downstream merge node to switch reception of the multicast data to its secondary path. The network node then receives an upstream fast notification packet (UFNP) from the merge node. The network node modifies its forwarding information upon receipt of the UFNP such that the multicast data is to be received by the network node from its downstream via which the UFNP was received. The DFNP and the UFNP cause the multicast data to reverse its flow direction between the network node and the merge node.