One embodiment of the present invention provides a router in an information-centric network (ICN). The router includes a receiving module configured to receive an interest for a piece of content. The interest indicates a name associated with the piece of content. The router also includes an interest-processing module configured to: determine whether the interest can be forwarded; in response to determining that the interest can be forwarded to a second router, select an identifier from a set of identifiers assigned to the router by the second router; and process the interest by inserting the identifier into the interest. The router further includes a forwarding module configured to forward the processed interest to the second router.