| CPC H04L 45/04 (2013.01) [H04L 45/50 (2013.01); H04L 61/251 (2013.01); H04L 2101/659 (2022.05); H04L 2101/686 (2022.05)] | 20 Claims |

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1. A method, comprising:
encoding, by a first network device, Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) network layer reachability information (NLRI) using Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) next hop encoding to generate encoded IPv4 NLRI;
including, by the first network device, information indicating border gateway protocol (BGP) labeled unicast (BGP-LU) in the encoded IPv4 NLRI;
advertising, by the first network device, the encoded IPv4 NLRI;
establishing, by the first network device, a communication session with a second network device,
wherein the communication session is established via an IPv6 core network, and
wherein the communication session is established as part of a 4PE framework for transmission of the IPv4 packets; and
forwarding, by the first network device and via the communication session, one or more IPv4 packets using the encoded IPv4 NLRI,
wherein the one or more IPv4 packets are forwarded as part of the 4PE framework.
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