UC Santa Cruz

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for content exchange in an information-centric network (ICN). During operation, a first node in the ICN receives an interest for a piece of content from a second node. The interest indicates a name of the piece of content and an incoming identifier assigned to the interest by the second node. The system identifies a matching entry in an identifier table stored on the first node that corresponds to the incoming identifier. The matching entry indicates a next-hop neighbor and an outgoing identifier. The system then updates the interest by replacing the incoming identifier with the outgoing identifier, and forwards the updated interest to the next-hop neighbor.