Patent ID: 9246745
Filing Date: 2016-01-26
CPC Classification: H04L

Claim Text:
1. A method for MAC (Media Access Control) address management executed by a router comprising a MAC table, comprising: performing, by the router, a learning procedure to record said MAC address in said MAC table if said MAC address does not exist in said MAC table; wherein said learning procedure comprises: performing, by the router, a first checking to determine capacities of a first column and a second column in the MAC table, wherein the first and second columns correspond to a first index; performing, by the router, a second checking to determine capacities of a third column and a fourth column in said MAC table when capacities of said first column and said second column are filled with MAC addresses, wherein the third and fourth columns correspond to a second index; and storing, by the router, a MAC address into one of said third column and said fourth column if one of said third and fourth columns has available capacity, wherein said second index is successive to said first index, wherein said MAC table further comprises a plurality of time stamp columns for recording idle time of each MAC address; and updating, by the router, idle time of said MAC address if said MAC address already exists in the MAC table.