US Patent 10097452 Chaining of inline services using software defined networking

A system and method for steering traffic through a set of services is provided. A service path or chain is assigned to a received packet based on a classification of the packet. A position and/or a direction of the traffic in the service path can be determined based on the previous service performed on the traffic. A next destination for the traffic can be assigned in accordance with the assigned service chain and determined position and direction information.