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SRV6 policy type for packet path tracing in large diameter networks

Grant US12580848B2 Kind: B2 Mar 17, 2026

Assignee

Cisco Technology, Inc.

Inventors

Clarence Filsfils, Ahmed Abdelsalam, Pablo Camarillo

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for enabling packet path tracing (PT) in large diameter networks that would otherwise exceed a hop limit imposed by hardware edit-depth limitations. Upon determining that a Midpoint Compressed Data (MCD) stack of a packet header is full, a PT Encapsulation and Copy (PEC) enabled midpoint node can apply an encapsulation protocol that generates a new header grouping that encapsulates a previous header grouping therein, copies information from the previous header grouping into the new header grouping, and adds a new MCD stack to the packet header for further population of path tracing data and to ensure that the packet remains along the intended path. The encapsulation protocol ensures that the new header grouping remains within the edit-depth of each midpoint node encountered by the packet. The path tracing information can be combined at a controller resulting in full path information for the packet.

CPC Classifications

H04L 45/26 H04L 45/34 H04L 45/74

Filing Date

2023-01-19

Application No.

18157002

Claims

20