Patent ID: 9621454
Date: 2017-04-11
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A switching device adapted to perform burst control in a data communications network comprising a plurality of bridges, the switching device comprising: at least one port enabled with a link management protocol for receiving a bridge protocol data unit (BPDU); and a burst control state machine configured to: prevent invocation of a burst avoidance process responsive to any port of at least one bridge attempting to propagate a topology change notification through said network and if the port from which the BPDU is received is attempting to become a designated bridge; initiate a burst avoidance process by the port upon receipt of the BPDU responsive to the port being a root port in a forwarding state that is transitioning to a designated role as part of a topology change and the port receiving current information from the designated bridge; and transition from a current state of the BPDU to an update state of the BPDU during the burst avoidance process; and wherein the invocation of the burst avoidance process is prevented by a delay in the transmission of the BPDU from the port.