# US 2013/0156029 A1 · Packet switch methods and systems

> Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt

- Number: US 2013/0156029 A1
- Document ID: US20130156029A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/765,614
- Filed: 2013-02-12
- Published: 2013-06-20
- Earliest claimed: 2004-05-05
- Assignees: Gigamon Inc.
- Inventors: Tom GALLATIN; Denny K. MIU; King L. WON; Patrick Pak Tak LEONG; Ted HO
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20130156029A1

## CPC

- H04L 49/351: for local area network [LAN], e.g. Ethernet switches
- H04L 12/4641: {Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] (LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272)}
- H04L 12/4645: {Details on frame tagging (routing of packets H04L45/00; support for virtual LAN H04L49/354)}
- H04L 41/046: comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
- H04L 43/028: by filtering
- H04L 43/0823: Errors, e.g. transmission errors
- H04L 43/16: Threshold monitoring
- H04L 49/354: for supporting virtual local area networks [VLAN]
- H04L 49/555: {Error detection}
- H04L 63/0227: {Filtering policies (mail message filtering H04L51/212)}
- H04L 41/0213: Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
- H04L 43/0882: Utilisation of link capacity
- H04L 43/12: Network monitoring probes
- H04L 43/18: Protocol analysers
- H04L 49/201: Multicast operation; Broadcast operation
- H04L 63/1408: {by monitoring network traffic (monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00)}
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)

## Abstract

The present invention relates to a packet switch and a packet switching method. An example embodiment of the present invention comprises at least three network ports, at least one instrument port, a mux-switch, a packet switch fabric, and an address table. The embodiment updates the address table to include the source address of each ingress packet of each network port and associate the source address with that network port. The mux-switch routes the ingress packet traffic of each network port according to the identity of the network port so that at least a copy of the packet traffic of one of the network ports is routed to an instrument port. The packet switch fabric routes the packets from the instrument ports to the network ports according the destination address of the packet and the identity of the network port that is associated with the destination address as recorded in the address table.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A packet switch configured to be connected to a packet-switching network and a network instrument, the packet switch comprising: a plurality of ports, wherein a first port is configured as a first network port to be connected to the packet-switching network; a plurality of filters, wherein one filter is associated with one port, and wherein the filters only filter packets entering through the ports; and a computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions to operate the packet switch, comprising instructions to: configure a second port to operate as a first instrument port to be connected to a network instrument; establish a logical connection between the first network port and the first instrument port; forward packets received from the packet-switching network through the network port to the first instrument port; and after the packets are forwarded from the network port, filter the packets using one of the filters before sending the packets out the first instrument port; configure a third port on the packet switch to operate as a first loop-back port, wherein a packet sent out the first loop-back port is looped back in through the first loop-back port, wherein the logical connection established between the network port and the first instrument port includes: a logical connection established from the network port to the first loop-back port; and a logical connection established from the first loop-back port to the first instrument port, and wherein packets forwarded from the network port are: forwarded from the network port to the first loop-back port; and forwarded from the first loop-back port to the first instrument port; and establish a first filtering criterion for a first filter associated with the first loop-back port, wherein the packets are filtered by: filtering the packets using the first filter associated with the first loop-back port based on the first established filtering criterion before the received packets are forwarded from the first loop-back port to the first instrument port.

### Claim at position 2

2-14. (canceled)