US Patent 7623520 Method and apparatus for routing packets

A method used for routing a data packet in a router having a first table used for recording a plurality of destination IP address and second table used for recording destination MAC address, wherein the plurality of destination IP address are different. The method includes: receiving a data packet and retrieving a destination IP address from the data packet; looking up an indication value corresponding to the destination IP address from the first table; selecting a destination MAC address from the second table according to the indication value as a nexthop for the data packet; and transmitting the data packet to the nexthop.