Patent ID: 11924088
Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 13:
14. A network device, wherein network interfaces of the network device are communicatively coupled to a downstream device or network using a data cable comprising a switch device configured to switch communication paths to the network device, the data cable communicatively coupling the network device to the downstream device or network so that the downstream device or network has a switchable communications path to the network device and a second network device, wherein the network device and the second network device do not arbitrate active/passive status via direct communication, the network device configured to:
send a request packet is in accordance with a network protocol;
receive a reply packet from a communicatively coupled downstream device or network, wherein the reply packet is generated in accordance with the network protocol in response to the request packet sent by the network device based on the data cable connecting the network device to the communicatively coupled downstream device or network;
based on data contained in the reply packet indicating that the request packet sent by the network device was acknowledged in accordance with the network protocol, determine, by the network device, that it is an active network device of a plurality of network devices; and
based on its status as the active network device, forward, to the communicatively coupled downstream device or network, tunneled data packets received from a second network device of the plurality of network devices.