Method and system of aggregate multiple VLANs in a metropolitan area network
US6912592B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 5, 2001 |
| Grant date | Jun 28, 2005 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 2, 2021 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L12/467
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and system is provided in which data packets from multiple customer VLANs are forwarded over a MAN using VLAN aggregation. A layer-2 switch located at the edge of the MAN connects the customer VLANs to the MAN. The edge switch aggregates multiple customer VLANs (the “sub-VLANs”) into one provider VLAN (the “super-VLAN”). When a packet is forwarded from the sub-VLAN to the super-VLAN and vice versa, the edge switch uses modified bridge forwarding rules to exchange the customer-configured VLAN-IDs with the provider-configured VLAN-IDs before transporting the packet over the MAN. The edge switch further uses modified bridge media access control (MAC) address learning rules to isolate one customer's traffic from another's (i.e. isolate one sub-VLAN's traffic from another sub-VLAN's traffic).
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.