Patent ID: 6772222
Filing Date: 2004-08-03
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A multicast forwarding processor comprising:means for receiving multicast and broadcast Layer 2/Layer 3/Layer 4 (L2/L3/L4) frames from a network processor; means for setting a frame layer flag; means for setting a unicast/multicast flag; means for setting a frame position flag; means for accessing a multitask forwarding table; means for storing and updating said frame layer, unicast/multicast, and frame position flags and sending said frame layer, unicast/multicast, and frame position flags to a frame forwarding processor; means for routing said L2/L3/L4 frames to an L2 learning processor; means for receiving said L2/L3/L4 frames from said frame forwarding processor and for sending said L2/L3/L4 frames to an L3/L4 processor for frame header modification; means for receiving modified L2/L3/L4 frames from said L3/L4 processor and transmitting the frame; and a multicast identifier (MID) structure indexed by a MID that provides routing information for routing incoming said L2/L3/L4 frames to outgoing destinations, wherein the MID structure comprises a receive MID structure and a transmit MID structure and the MID identifies one or more other MIDs, wherein each MID is one of a simple MID (SMID) and a compound MID (CMID).