Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080267072 | Data Communications Network for the Management of an Ethernet Transport Network - A communications network comprising a plurality of nodes supporting connection-oriented traffic and connectionless traffic, wherein management traffic between the nodes is propagated as connectionless traffic having a common management identifier. Also disclosed is a communications network component comprising logic that supports connection-oriented traffic and Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN)-based connectionless traffic, wherein the logic propagates management messages as VLAN-based connectionless traffic having a unique VLAN identifier (VID). Included is a communications network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method comprising provisioning a unique VID for management messages, and selectively propagating management messages with the unique VID. | 10-30-2008 |
20080267080 | Fault Verification for an Unpaired Unidirectional Switched-Path - A communications network comprises a first node and a second node. The communications network further comprises an unpaired switched-path between the first and second nodes. Connectivity of the unpaired switched-path is tested by the first node transmitting a probe message along the unpaired switched-path and waiting to receive a probe message response as connectionless traffic from the second node. Also disclosed is a communications network component comprising logic that selectively verifies connectivity of a unidirectional communication path based on a probe message transmitted as connection-oriented traffic along the unidirectional communication path and a time limit in which to receive a probe message response as connectionless traffic. Also disclosed is a communications network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method. The method comprises selectively transmitting a probe message along a unidirectional connection-oriented path and waiting to receive a virtual local area network (VLAN)-based probe message response. | 10-30-2008 |
20080270588 | Verifying Management Virtual Local Area Network Identifier Provisioning Consistency - A communications network, comprising a plurality of nodes supporting connection-oriented traffic and connectionless traffic, wherein management traffic between the nodes is propagated as connectionless traffic having a unique management traffic Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) identifier (VID), and wherein at least one node is configured to perform a Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) exchange operation to enable detection of inconsistent provisioning of the Management VID in at least one node. Also disclosed is a communications network component, comprising logic that enables connection-oriented traffic and VLAN-based connectionless traffic, wherein the logic propagates management messages as VLAN-based connectionless traffic having a management VID, and wherein the logic enables detection of inconsistent management VIDs in a network. | 10-30-2008 |
20080279103 | Network Availability Enhancement Technique for Packet Transport Networks - A packet communications network that transports a plurality of traffic over a plurality of server transport paths from a source to a destination, the network comprising: using a load distribution method to distribute each instance of traffic to an individual transport path, thereby avoiding reordering at the destination; enabling all the transport paths to carry the traffic; allowing the network to provision a preferred traffic distribution through a policy setting; and redistributing the traffic when a condition on one of the transport paths changes. Also disclosed is a composite transport group component comprising: a processor configured to implement a method comprising: receiving a server trail failure notification message; and performing a dynamic redistribution of traffic over a plurality of server trails, thereby transporting substantially all of the traffic associated with a class of traffic transported over the server trail associated with the server trail failure notification message. | 11-13-2008 |
20080291919 | Traffic Distribution and Bandwidth Management for Link Aggregation - An apparatus comprising a plurality of ingress ports, a routing logic coupled to the ingress ports, and a plurality of egress ports coupled to the routing logic, wherein the routing logic is configured to transport a plurality of data frames associated with a plurality of data flows from the ingress ports to the egress ports, and wherein the apparatus associates at least some of the data flows with a bandwidth. Included is a network component configured to implement a method comprising distributing a plurality of data flows to a plurality of links in a link aggregation group (LAG) using bandwidth information associated with the data flows. | 11-27-2008 |
20080291922 | Method of Preventing Transport Leaks in Hybrid Switching Networks by Extension of the Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) - An apparatus comprising a processor configured to implement a method comprising receiving a first data structure comprising a first virtual local area network identifier (VID) and a first forwarding type, comparing the first VID and a first forwarding type with a second VID and a second forwarding type in a second data structure, and reporting a misprovisioned data structure if the first VID is the same as the second VID and the first forwarding type is not the same as the second forwarding type. Also disclosed is a method comprising implementing a network protocol to forward provisioning information in a plurality of VID Tables corresponding to a plurality of nodes, and analyzing the provisioning information to detect misprovisioned nodes. | 11-27-2008 |
20090063708 | Load Distribution and Redundancy Using Tree Aggregation - A network comprising a plurality of trees each comprising at least one ingress leaf node, at least one interior node, and at least one egress leaf node, wherein at least some of the ingress leaf nodes and the egress leaf nodes are common to the trees, and wherein the ingress leaf node is configured to transport data to the egress leaf node using any of the trees is disclosed. Also disclosed is a network component comprising a processor configured to implement a method comprising selecting one of a plurality of trees associated with information contained within a frame, directing the frame to the selected tree, and maintaining a filtering database (FDB) entry in an interior node in the unselected tree or trees. | 03-05-2009 |
20090185569 | Composite Transport Functions - A network comprising a first layer processor (LP) configured to distribute a plurality of component communications to a plurality of component connections using a distribution table comprising a plurality of component communication identifiers (CCIDs) and the component connection associated with each CCID, a second LP configured to collect the packets from the component connections, and a composite connection coupled to the first LP and the second LP, wherein the composite connection comprises a plurality of the component connections and is configured to transport the component communications using the component connections, and wherein the distribution table and composite connection are configured such that component communications associated with at least the same CCID of a component communication takes the same path from the first LP to the second LP as from the second LP to the first LP. | 07-23-2009 |
20090252179 | Encapsulating Large Ethernet Frames - A method comprising receiving a data frame, encapsulating the received data frame into a reflected frame message (RFM) encapsulated frame, and if the received data frame causes the RFM encapsulated frame to exceed a maximum service data unit size, either the data frame is truncated or the data frame is split into two smaller frames and those two smaller frames are encapsulated by two separate RFM frames, wherein if a truncation flag is set to be true, the data frame is truncated to be encapsulated in one RFM. | 10-08-2009 |
20090268739 | Transparent Bypass and Associated Mechanisms - A network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method comprising transparently snooping a path control message comprising a first path identifier, wherein the path control message is sent between a plurality of routers and is not intended for the network component, analyzing a plurality of frames each comprising a second path identifier, and diverting at least some of the frames away from at least one of the routers, wherein the second path identifier in the diverted frames matches the first path identifier. Included is a method comprising configuring a bypass path by snooping a control frame comprising a label switched path (LSP) identifier, and routing a plurality of data frames associated with the LSP identifier to the bypass path without routing any subsequent control frames associated with the LSP identifier to the bypass path. | 10-29-2009 |
20100226368 | Transport Multiplexer - Mechanisms to Force Ethernet Traffic From One Domain to Be Switched in a Different (External) Domain - A network comprising a switch configured to switch traffic between a plurality of external interfaces via a plurality of virtual interfaces associated with the external interfaces, wherein the traffic comprises a plurality of external virtual local area network (VLAN) identifiers (VIDs) associated with the external interfaces to select the virtual interfaces, and wherein the virtual interfaces are configured to forward traffic based on an internal VID that is assigned to the traffic independent of the external VID. Also disclosed is a network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method comprising receiving a frame from a physical port, obtaining an external VID from a VLAN tag in the frame, removing the VLAN tag from the frame, selecting a virtual interface based on the external VID, and delivering the frame to the selected virtual interface. | 09-09-2010 |
20100272108 | Media Access Control Bridging in a Mesh Network - A network comprising a switch configured to learn a source address (SA) for a source node with a source port that receives a frame comprising the SA if the SA is not previously learned on another port and to subsequently forward any frame comprising a destination address (DA) for a destination node that matches the learned SA on the source port associated with the SA. A network comprising a switch configured to flood a frame received on a receiving port if the frame comprises a DA that is not previously learned on a source port and to distinguish the flooded frame from other forwarded frames by labeling the flooded frame, wherein the frame is flooded on a plurality of ports. A method comprising disabling a plurality of filtering database (FDB) entries that correspond to a plurality of addresses that are associated with a port, and sending the addresses in a control frame. | 10-28-2010 |
20100306415 | Using Provider Backbone Bridged Network to Reduce the Number of Media Access Control Addresses Visible to Core Bridges in the Data Center - A system comprising a backbone core bridge (BCB) in a provider backbone bridged network (PBBN), and a backbone edge bridge (BEB) coupled to the BCB via a provider network port (PNP) and to a customer bridge in a customer bridged network via a C-tagged service interface, wherein the C-tagged service interface maps a service instance from the customer bridged network that is identified by a customer-virtual local area network identifier (C-VID) to a backbone service instance on the PBBN that is identified by a service instance identifier (I-SID). | 12-02-2010 |
20110075550 | Method of M:1 Protection - An apparatus comprising a first segment endpoint bridge (SEB) configured to couple to a second SEB via a plurality of path segments, wherein the path segments comprise a working segment and a plurality of candidate protection segments, wherein the candidate protection segments comprise a protection segment that is configured to protect the working segment, wherein the candidate protection segments other than the protection segment do not protect the working segment, wherein only one first state variable is used to maintain each of the candidate protection segments other than the protection segment, and wherein a plurality of second state variables are used to maintain each of the working segment and the protection segment. | 03-31-2011 |
20110268124 | Encapsulating Large Ethernet Frames - A method comprising receiving a data frame, encapsulating the received data frame into a reflected frame message (RFM) encapsulated frame, and if the received data frame causes the RFM encapsulated frame to exceed a maximum service data unit size, either the data frame is truncated or the data frame is split into two smaller frames and those two smaller frames are encapsulated by two separate RFM frames, wherein if a truncation flag is set to true, the data frame is truncated and the truncated data frame is encapsulated in one RFM. | 11-03-2011 |
20120008528 | Layer Two Over Multiple Sites - An apparatus comprising a service network, and a plurality of Layer 2 sites connected by the service network via a plurality of gateways, wherein the gateways are configured to map a plurality of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of a plurality of hosts under a plurality of virtual local area networks (VLANs) in a plurality of Layer 2 sites to a plurality of addresses (e.g. MAC or others) of the corresponding gateways inform the other gateways in the other Layer 2 sites of the mapped IP addresses under each of the VLANs in the local Layer 2 sites, and forward data frames originated from the hosts in the local Layer 2 sites to the other gateways in the other Layer 2 sites when the data frames' destinations are residing in the other Layer 2 sites. | 01-12-2012 |
20120014387 | Virtual Layer 2 and Mechanism to Make it Scalable - An apparatus comprising a service network and a plurality of Layer 2 networks at a plurality of different physical locations coupled to the service network via a plurality of edge nodes at the Layer 2 networks, wherein the edge nodes are configured to maintain a plurality of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of a plurality of hosts across the Layer 2 networks, and wherein the IP addresses of the hosts in each of the Layer 2 networks are mapped by the other Layer 2 networks to a Media Access Control (MAC) address of each of the edge nodes in the same Layer 2 networks of the hosts. | 01-19-2012 |
20120026867 | Method of M:1 Protection - An apparatus comprising a first segment endpoint bridge (SEB) configured to couple to a second SEB via a plurality of path segments, wherein the path segments comprise a working segment and a plurality of candidate protection segments, wherein the candidate protection segments comprise a protection segment that is configured to protect the working segment, wherein the candidate protection segments other than the protection segment do not protect the working segment, wherein one first state variable is used to maintain each of the candidate protection segments, and wherein a plurality of second state variables are used to maintain each of the working segment and the protection segment. | 02-02-2012 |
20120027014 | Transport Multiplexer-Mechanisms to Force Ethernet Traffic From One Domain to Be Switched in a Different (External) Domain - A network comprising a switch configured to switch traffic between a plurality of external interfaces via a plurality of virtual interfaces associated with the external interfaces, and wherein the traffic comprises a plurality of external virtual local area network (VLAN) identifiers (VIDs) associated with the external interfaces to select the virtual interfaces. Also disclosed is a network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method comprising receiving a frame from a physical port, obtaining an external VID from a VLAN tag in the frame, removing the VLAN tag from the frame, selecting a virtual interface based on the external VID, and delivering the frame to the selected virtual interface. | 02-02-2012 |
20120063306 | Use of Partitions to Reduce Flooding and Filtering Database Size Requirements in Large Layer Two Networks - A network component, comprising a memory unit comprising a filtering database (FDB), wherein the FDB comprises a medium access control (MAC) address and a Virtual Local Area Networks (VLAN) Identifier (VID) pair for each of a plurality of end-stations associated with an edge-district partition of a network, wherein the edge-district partition is associated with the network component, and wherein the FDB comprises a wildcard FDB entry corresponding to each VLAN associated with the network component, and a logic unit coupled to the ingress ports and the egress ports, wherein the logic unit is configured to reduce flooding in the edge-district partition of the network; wherein the logic unit is configured to forward a received frame, having a destination MAC address and a VID for which there is not an exact match in the FDB, towards a core-bridge without flooding based on the wildcard entry in the FDB. | 03-15-2012 |
20120063363 | Method to Pass Virtual Local Area Network Information in Virtual Station Interface Discovery and Configuration Protocol - An apparatus comprising an edge virtual bridging (EVB) bridge, and an EVB station coupled to the EVB bridge, wherein the EVB station is configured to send to the EVB bridge a virtual station interface (VSI) discovery and configuration protocol (VDP) request comprising a filter information (info) field without specifying a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier (ID), and wherein the EVB bridge is configured to send a VLAN ID (VID) to the EVB station in a second filter info field in a VDP response to the VDP request. | 03-15-2012 |
20120063466 | Specifying Priority On a Virtual Station Interface Discovery and Configuration Protocol Response - An apparatus comprising an Edge Virtual Bridging (EVB) bridge coupled with an EVB station wherein the EVB bridge is configured to communicate to the EVB station a Filter Information (Info) field of a virtual station interface (VSI) discovery and configuration protocol (VDP) Associate Response message, and wherein the Filter Info field specifies a default Priority Code Point (PCP) value associated with at least one or all of a plurality of VID values carried by that VDP TLV Response. | 03-15-2012 |
20120147896 | Method of Supporting an Open Provider Backbone Network - An apparatus comprising a first interface configured to transmit or receive backbone traffic, a second interface configured to transmit or receive non-backbone traffic, and a third interface in communication with the first interface and second interface, the third interface configured to multiplex or demultiplex the backbone traffic and the non-backbone traffic is disclosed, wherein the backbone traffic is traffic that will be, is, or has been B-tagged. Also disclosed is a node comprising a processor configured to implement a method comprising receiving a first data stream comprising backbone traffic, receiving a second data stream comprising non-backbone traffic, and multiplexing the first data stream with the second data stream. | 06-14-2012 |
20130021944 | Method to Pass Virtual Local Area Network Information in Virtual Station Interface Discovery and Configuration Protocol - An apparatus comprising an edge virtual bridging (EVB) bridge, and an EVB station coupled to the EVB bridge, wherein the EVB station is configured to send to the EVB bridge a virtual station interface (VSI) discovery and configuration protocol (VDP) request comprising a filter information (info) field without specifying a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier (ID), and wherein the EVB bridge is configured to send a VLAN ID (VID) to the EVB station in a second filter info field in a VDP response to the VDP request. | 01-24-2013 |
20130021947 | Specifying Priority on a Virtual Station Interface Discovery and Configuration Protocol Response - An apparatus comprising an Edge Virtual Bridging (EVB) bridge coupled with an EVB station wherein the EVB bridge is configured to communicate to the EVB station a Filter Information (Info) field of a virtual station interface (VSI) discovery and configuration protocol (VDP) Associate Response message, and wherein the Filter Info field specifies a default Priority Code Point (PCP) value associated with at least one or all of a plurality of VID values carried by that VDP TLV Response. | 01-24-2013 |