ARCHITECTURE AND METHOD FOR HYBRID CIRCUIT-SWITCHED AND PACKET-SWITCHED ROUTER

摘要

Techniques and mechanisms for performing circuit switched routing and packet switched routing for network communication are described. In an embodiment, the router evaluates the control information of the packet received by the router, and the evaluation detects whether the packet contains data for sideband propagation. Based on the evaluation, the router performs a selection among the plurality of modes of the router, and the plurality of modes includes a first mode for routing packets for packet switched delivery of sideband data in the network. The plurality of modes also includes a second mode of configuring circuit switched channels according to the packets. In another embodiment, the router determines the direction in which to route packets in the layer network, and the determination of direction is based on the router level in the layer of the layer network.