Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for address to port mapping in a token ring network

US5646939A · kind A · utility

17Cited by
5References
19Claims
0Family size

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Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 8, 1995
Grant dateJul 8, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 8, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S370/909
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A token ring network performs address to port mapping by taking advantage of the abilities of the port switched modules and the neighbor notification process, in order to perform address to port mapping on each individual module. Ring monitors are switched from an upstream side of a port to a downstream side of a port when the neighbor notification process enters the port domain. The processor on the module records all the addresses received on the downstream side of the port, when the neighbor notification process is in the domain of that port. If it appears that the neighbor notification process is in the domain of two adjacent ports, the present invention only records addresses from the most downstream of the two adjacent ports, since such a situation is an indication that the upstream ports do not conform to MAC protocol. If a non-protocol station is connected to the last port in a module, the module will collect addresses from that port until the neighbor notification process enters the most upstream port of the module. At that point, addresses are no longer recorded in the most downstream port, and each set of addresses for each port are checked to determine if the last entry…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.