Patent · US Expired

Label control method and apparatus for virtual private LAN segment networks

US7260097B2 · kind B2 · utility

138Cited by
0References
22Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateOct 8, 2002
Grant dateAug 21, 2007
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 1, 2025

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L12/4641
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A network can be organized for providing virtual private LAN segment (VPLS) services to customers into a network core and an associated number of logical provider edges. Each logical provider edge is partitioned into a plurality of Edge-PEs and a Core-PE. Customers connect to the Edge-PE. The Edge-PE maintains a context (a virtual bridge) for each customer VPLS it serves, VPLS service is realized by a full mesh of so called virtual circuit (VC) tunnels between virtual bridge ports. Each VC tunnel is identified by 3 VC labels in each direction, the first label is used in the encapsulation of customer traffic from the ingress Edge-PE to the ingress Core-PE, the second from ingress Core-PE to egress Core-PE and the third from egress Core-PE to Egress Edge-PE. The mechanisms for the allocation of the label values to and how the label values are used provide a realization of VPLS service that is scalable and easy to administer.

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