Loading patent…
Assignee3Com Corporation
InventorsRaphael J. Weyman, Francisco Aquino, David Reinauer, Jacek A. Tulacz, Jane A. Riegel
Estimating the term…
A network unit comprises a multiplicity of ports for transmitting and receiving data packets, a bridging facility and a routing facility. The network unit has a multiplicity of mutually exclusive states which include an initial state from which said network unit can transition to either a slave state; or a waiting state from which in the absence of receipt from elsewhere of an broadcast advertisement including an advertised address corresponding to an address of the unit, the unit transitions to a master routing state in which the routing facility is enabled and the unit broadcasts a corresponding advertisement including an address of the unit. The unit transitions from the waiting state, when it receives from elsewhere (i.e. another unit) such a broadcast advertisement, to a master bridging state in which the routing facility is disabled and the unit provides commands for disabling a routing facility of other similar units to which the network unit is connected. The states include a slave routing state, in which the routing facility is enabled, and a slave bridging state, in which the routing facility is disabled. In the slave states the advertisements are not broadcast and the unit responds to routing enabling and disabling commands from a unit in a master state. The scheme provides in conjunction with external connectivity resilience in the event of cascade failure.
A network unit comprising:
2 A network unit according to claim 1 wherein said one state is a waiting state prior to entry of the unit into the master routing state.
A network unit according to claim 2 wherein the network unit when in the waiting state is operative in the predetermined absence of said receipt from elsewhere of such an advertisement to transition to said master routing state.
6 A network unit according to claim 1 wherein said unit broadcasts said advertisement in the form of a discovery protocol packet.
8 A network unit according to claim 1 wherein on entry to said master routing state said unit provides commands for enabling the routing facility of other similar units to which the network unit is connected.
11 A network unit according to claim 10 wherein in said slave bridging state said unit provides commands for disabling routing facilities of other similar units to which the network unit is connected.
A network unit comprising:
16 A network unit according to claim 14 wherein said unit broadcasts said advertisement in the form of a discovery protocol packet.
20 A network unit according to claim 14 wherein said states further include:
A network unit comprising:
A network unit comprising:
A network unit comprising:
A network unit comprising:
A network unit comprising:
41 A network unit according to claim 39 wherein said slave state is a slave bridging state wherein said routing interfaces are disabled.
A method of operating a network unit which comprises a multiplicity of ports for transmitting and receiving data packets;
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.