Switch Device With Device-Specified Bridge Domains

Abstract

A switch includes registers, a parser and port selection logic. The registers store an address in multiple locations. The address defines a bridge domain. Each bridge domain defines a set of switch ports. The parser identifies when a received frame includes a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier. The parser uses the VLAN identifier to locate the address in the registers. The port selection logic is responsive to one of a first index from a first table that includes port identifiers and the bridge domain and a second index from a second table that includes VLAN identifiers. The switch is configured by defining an address scheme, inserting an address field in the first and second tables, and generating maps from the tables. The maps direct the port selection logic to direct received frames to desired port(s).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.