Patent ID: 11924005
Assignee: ROCKPORT NETWORKS, INC.
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  G | IPC G  H

Claim 15:
16. A dedicated network gateway device for at least one of bridging and routing network traffic between a traditional network and a direct interconnect network, comprising:
a first set of traditional network ports with a single link per port, such ports being connected to end devices that form a first traditional network; and
a second set of direct interconnect ports with two or more links per port, such ports being connected to the direct interconnect network;
wherein said direct interconnect network acts as a backbone that allows network traffic to route from the dedicated network gateway device to at least one other dedicated network gateway device, the dedicated network gateway device and the at least one other dedicated network gateway device being defined as a plurality of gateway devices;
wherein the at least one other dedicated network gateway device comprises:
a first set of traditional network ports with a single link per port, such ports being connected to end devices that form a second traditional network; and
a second set of direct interconnect ports with two or more links per port, such ports being connected to the direct interconnect network;

wherein the plurality of gateway devices comprises a coordination function that assigns one or more direct interconnect nodes within the direct interconnect network to each of the at least one direct interconnect ports so only one of the direct interconnect ports processes the network traffic for a given flow; and
wherein the coordination function further comprises an efficiency function that regulates the direct interconnect ports so that the direct interconnect port that first receives network traffic for a given flow, which was destined for a different direct interconnect port on the same dedicated network gateway device, will process the network traffic for the given flow rather than forwarding the network traffic to the originally destined direct interconnect port.