Patent · US Expired

Network switching device with forwarding database tables populated based on use

US6956854B2 · kind B2 · utility

30Cited by
7References
13Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 20, 2001
Grant dateOct 18, 2005
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 13, 2023

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L49/351
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A switching device for forwarding network traffic to a desired destination on a network, such as a telephone or computer network. The switching device includes multiple ports and uses a lookup table containing lookup keys to determine which port to forward network traffic over. The lookup tables are populated based on use. Consequently, the lookup tables on different ports contain different addresses. By storing only addresses that a port uses, each port's lookup table is unique to that port's characteristics. Additionally, aging techniques are used on both source and destination addresses in the lookup table so that stale entries are removed and memory is conserved.

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