Packet switching apparatus

A packet switching apparatus with a plurality of pairs of input/output ports, forwarding packets it received to their destination, based on a session as point-to-point connection set up between a terminal and a destination network, comprising:

• a parthfinding table to contain entries on a plurality of entry lines, to which input information to be known when a first packet of a session is received consisting of the identifier of an input port, the identifier of an input tunnel consisting of one session or a bundle of a plurality of sessions through which packets are logically passed to a point in a network, and the identifier of an input session and associated information about the identifier of an output port through which to send out the packet received are defined;
• and
• a processing unit for packets received which searches said pathfinding table for an entry line matching with the route information included in a packet received, performs processing for the received packet, according to packet output route information specified on the searched out entry line, and sends out the received packet through the output port identified by the output port identifier on said specific entry line.

A packet switching apparatus with a plurality of pairs of input/output ports, forwarding packets it received to their destination, based on a session as point-to-point connection set up between a terminal and a destination network, comprising:

• a parthfinding table to contain entries on a plurality of entry lines, to which route information to be known when a first packet of a session is received and associated information about the identifier of an output port through which to send out the packet received are defined;
• and
• a processing unit for packets received which searches said pathfinding table for an entry line matching with the route information included in a packet received, performs processing for the received packet, according to packet output route information specified on the searched out entry line, and sends out the received packet through the output port identified by the output port identifier on said specific entry line.

A packet switching apparatus connected to several networks, each network using a specific communication protocol for transmitting packets across it, said apparatus forwarding packets it received to their destination, based on a session as point-to-point connection set up between a terminal and a destination network, arranged such that:

• even when the terminal moves, leaving the area of a network and entering the area of another network among said several networks, said apparatus continues to forward packets it received through the existing point-to-point session handed over to the network where the terminal now stays only by changing the output tunnel consisting of one session or a bundle of a plurality of sessions through which packets are logically passed to a point in a network.