Stackable network unit including register for identifying trunk connection status of stacked units
US6801950B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 25, 2000 |
| Grant date | Oct 5, 2004 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 19, 2022 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY02D30/50
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
In a stack of network units each includes a multiplicity of ports for receiving and forwarding addressed data packets and a forwarding engine which in response to address data selects at least one port for the forwarding of a data packet. A cascade connects the units and allows the transmission of a packet placed on said cascade by a unit to all the other units. Each unit is responsive to a packet received from the cascade to forward or discard the received packet according to predetermined forwarding rules. A trunk includes a respective port of each of some but not necessarily all the units. Each unit includes a ‘trunk box member’ register indicating which of the units has at least one port connected in the trunk When a first unit in the stack receives, at a port connected neither to the trunk nor the cascade, a packet destined for the trunk, the first unit directs that packet to a port connected to the trunk if the first unit has such a port and otherwise sends that packet to the cascade. When a second unit in the stack, having a port connected to the trunk, receives by way of the cascade from the first unit a packet destined for the trunk, the second unit determines …
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.