A PhD dissertation makes the following proposal to combine SDN with MPLS in a network. The intention is to do SDN$-$styled generalized forwarding based on bit patterns across fields in packet headers. The idea is to enable labelled$-$based switching by using MPLS routers. A remote controller is used to maintain a mapping from SDN bit patterns used for forwarding into labels. When an IP packet enters the network, the entry router adds the corresponding label to each packet, making it an MPLS packet. At the internal routers, the table lookup for a packet is based on the packet's label. Discuss the rationale for doing this.