System and method for piggybacking routing information in interests in a content centric network

1. A computer system for facilitating routing updates outside of a routing protocol, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving, by an intermediate node, a first interest that indicates an originator name, wherein a name is a hierarchically structured variable length identifier that includes contiguous name components ordered from a most general level to a most specific level, wherein the originator name is a routable name prefix for a sender of the first interest and is used by a content producing device in a subsequent interest;

in response to not obtaining a matching entry in a forwarding information base based on the originator name, adding a first entry to the forwarding information base, wherein the first entry includes the originator name as a name for the first entry and further includes an arrival interface of the first interest as an outgoing interface for the first entry; and

in response to receiving the subsequent interest which has a name that includes the originator name, forwarding the subsequent interest to the outgoing interface for the first entry,

thereby facilitating the intermediate node to proactively update routing information outside of the routing protocol and based on routing information included in the first interest.

2. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein in response to receiving the subsequent interest, the method further comprises:

performing a lookup in the forwarding information base based on the originator name to obtain the first entry.

3. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the first interest includes a hop count, wherein the first entry further includes a distance to the sender as a value based on the hop count.

4. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the first interest includes a reverse route update which indicates routing information from a neighbor node of the intermediate node, wherein the reverse route update is for one or more name prefixes, and wherein the method further comprises:

inserting the indicated routing information into a control process for a local routing algorithm, wherein the control process handles route updates from neighbor nodes.

5. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:

in response to obtaining the matching entry in the forwarding information base based on the originator name, adding to the matching entry the arrival interface of the first interest as an outgoing interface for the matching entry.

6. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the first interest has a name, and wherein the method further comprises one or more of:

in response to determining that the originator name indicated in the first interest is null, forwarding the first interest to one or more outgoing interfaces indicated in the forwarding information base and corresponding to the name for the first interest; and

forwarding the first interest to the one or more outgoing interfaces indicated in the forwarding information base and corresponding to the name for the first interest.

7. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein receiving the first interest is in response to an advertisement of the content producing device for content under a domain of the content producing device, and wherein the advertisement is an interest which does not require a responsive content object and does not leave state information in a pending interest table.

8. A computer system for facilitating routing updates outside of the routing protocol, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving, by a content producing device, a first interest that indicates an originator name, wherein a name is a hierarchically structured variable length identifier that includes contiguous name components ordered from a most general level to a most specific level, wherein the originator name is a routable name prefix for a sender of the first interest and is used by the content producing device in a subsequent interest;

in response to not obtaining a matching entry in a forwarding information base based on the originator name, adding a first entry to the forwarding information base, wherein the first entry includes the originator name as a name for the first entry and further includes an arrival interface of the first interest as an outgoing interface for the first entry;

generating the subsequent interest which has a name that includes the originator name; and

forwarding the subsequent interest to the outgoing interface for the first entry,

thereby facilitating the content producing device to proactively update routing information outside of the routing protocol and based on routing information included in the first interest.

9. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises one or more of:

in response to determining that the originator name indicated in the first interest is null, processing the first interest; and

performing a lookup in the forwarding information base based on the originator name to obtain the first entry.

10. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the first interest includes a hop count, wherein the first entry further includes a distance to the sender as a value based on the hop count.

11. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the first interest includes a reverse route update which indicates routing information from a neighbor node of the content producing device, wherein the reverse route update is for one or more name prefixes, and wherein the method further comprises:

inserting the indicated routing information into a control process for a local routing algorithm, wherein the control process handles route updates from neighbor nodes.

12. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:

in response to obtaining the matching entry in the forwarding information base based on the originator name, adding to the matching entry the arrival interface of the first interest as an outgoing interface for the matching entry.

13. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:

generating an advertisement for content under a domain of the content producing device, wherein the advertisement is an interest which does not require a responsive content object and does not leave state information in a pending interest table, and wherein receiving the first interest is in response to generating the advertisement.

14. A computer-implemented method for facilitating routing updates outside of a routing protocol, the method comprising:

receiving, by an intermediate node, a first interest that indicates an originator name, wherein a name is a hierarchically structured variable length identifier that includes contiguous name components ordered from a most general level to a most specific level, wherein the originator name is a routable name prefix for a sender of the first interest and is used by a content producing device in a subsequent interest;

in response to not obtaining a matching entry in a forwarding information base based on the originator name, adding a first entry to the forwarding information base, wherein the first entry includes the originator name as a name for the first entry and further includes an arrival interface of the first interest as an outgoing interface for the first entry; and

in response to receiving the subsequent interest which has a name that includes the originator name, forwarding the subsequent interest to the outgoing interface for the first entry,

thereby facilitating the intermediate node to proactively update routing information outside of the routing protocol and based on routing information included in the first interest.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein in response to receiving the subsequent interest, the method further comprises:

performing a lookup in the forwarding information base based on the originator name to obtain the first entry.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first interest includes a hop count, wherein the first entry further includes a distance to the sender as a value based on the hop count.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first interest includes a reverse route update which indicates routing information from a neighbor node of the intermediate node, wherein the reverse route update is for one or more name prefixes, and wherein the method further comprises:

inserting the indicated routing information into a control process for a local routing algorithm, wherein the control process handles route updates from neighbor nodes.

18. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

in response to obtaining the matching entry in the forwarding information base based on the originator name, adding to the matching entry the arrival interface of the first interest as an outgoing interface for the matching entry.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first interest has a name, and wherein the method further comprises one or more of:

in response to determining that the originator name indicated in the first interest is null, forwarding the first interest to one or more outgoing interfaces indicated in the forwarding information base and corresponding to the name for the first interest; and

forwarding the first interest to the one or more outgoing interfaces indicated in the forwarding information base and corresponding to the name for the first interest.

20. The method of claim 14 , wherein receiving the first interest is in response to an advertisement of the content producing device for content under a domain of the content producing device, and wherein the advertisement is an interest which does not require a responsive content object and does not leave state information in a pending interest table.