Efficient network multicast switching apparatus and methods
US6804236B1 · kind B1 · utility
25Cited by
82References
13Claims
0Family size
Assignee
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Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 7, 2002 |
| Grant date | Oct 12, 2004 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 7, 2022 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L12/467
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Efficient switched network multicasting techniques are provided. Incoming multicast packets are processed by a central forwarding engine (CFE) in a network switch to generate forwarding indices used to make forwarding decisions for the packets based upon whether the packets are special multicast control packets or data packets. Forwarding of the special multicast control packets is determined by the switch's network management processor (NMP), while data packets are forwarded based upon conventional bridge forwarding techniques.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.