Broadcast traffic reduction in a communications network

Abstract

The present invention includes a method and system for routing broadcast packets in a network (250) using a switching device (200) which is operable to interconnect sub-portions (202, 204) of the network (250). Each network (250) sub-portion (202, 204) is connected to at least one of a plurality of switch ports (232, 236, 240, 244) on the switching device (200). The switching device (200) is further operable to forward certain ones of the broadcast packets between the sub-portions (202, 204) of the network (250) via the switch ports (232, 236, 240, 244) in accordance with a forwarding algorithm and to forward all other of the broadcast packets to a processor (320). The processor (320) is communicatively connected to the switching device (200) and is operable to forward the other ones of the broadcast packets in accordance with a set of pre-defined broadcast routing heuristics.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.