Patent · US Expired

Bridged network topology acquisition

US6614764B1 · kind B1 · utility

45Cited by
8References
43Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 1, 2000
Grant dateSep 2, 2003
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 1, 2020

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L45/04
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A bridged network and a method for performing bridged network topology acquisition. The bridged network includes network segments and smart bridges having one or more ports. The network segments are interconnected by the smart bridges via the ports. Each of the smart bridges being configured to perform steps to accomplish the network topology acquisition. The method also performs steps to accomplish the network topology acquisition. The steps include an inventory construction that compiles a list of the ports that are connected to each of the network segments. Among the ports that are connected to any of the network segments the inventory construction respecting each port operates cooperatively so as to cause the list respecting each of the ports to converge rapidly to the state in which all the lists are similar and yielding a uniform segment inventory. The bridged network topology acquisition in each of the smart bridges operates cooperatively with the bridged network topology acquisition in other smart bridges in order to create a total network report from most recent segment inventories. The bridged network topology acquisition includes propagation, collection, and distribution…

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