Patent · US Expired

Network device virtual interface

US7242665B2 · kind B2 · utility

28Cited by
8References
18Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 19, 2001
Grant dateJul 10, 2007
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 13, 2024

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L45/76
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A network device includes a virtual router subsystem having potentially numerous virtual routers associated with corresponding different virtual private routed networks (VPRN) and employing generic interface identifiers to identify interfaces at which VPRN traffic is received or transmitted. A virtual interface subsystem couples the virtual router subsystem to physical interfaces of the device. The virtual interface subsystem includes virtual interfaces organized into linked sets, and each set associates a generic identifier of a virtual router with a physical interface to another network device serving the same VPRN. A basic type of set includes two VIs for interfacing a virtual router to a customer access link, and a more complicated set includes multiple pairs of several types of VIs to interface a virtual router to redundant label-switched paths on a channel-oriented backbone link such as an ATM link.

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