Patent · US Active

Methods and apparatus for implementing VPN services

US7668178B2 · kind B2 · utility

7Cited by
1References
33Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 30, 2005
Grant dateFeb 23, 2010
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 10, 2027

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L45/50
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Implementation of a VPN service such as a VPLS (Virtual Private Local area network Service) is performed utilizing a two-stage process. A first stage of the two-stage process involves providing notification of whether a PE (Provider Edge) router in a label-switching network has VPLS capability. Notification can include broadcasting a message from a PE router to remote PE routers in the label-switching network to indicate whether the broadcasting PE router is VPLS enabled. A second stage of the two-stage process involves, based on receiving a notification that a PE router is VPLS enabled, generating a query message to discover a set of VPLS instances to which the broadcasting PE router belongs. In this way, a given PE router generating the query message can identify other PE routers in the label-switching network associated with the same VPLS for purposes of setting up the VPLS in the label-switching network.

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