Patent ID: 7633956
Filing Date: 2009-12-15
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of processing a packet sent to a service provider network, comprising: receiving the packet from a cable modem; identifying a cable interface and cable service identifier associated with the cable modem; inserting a layer 2 network identifier into the packet, the layer 2 (L2) network identifier comprising inner and outer Service Provider Virtual Local Area Network (SP-VLAN) tags, wherein the inner SP-VLAN tag represents a service flow on a destination node in a point-to point L2 Virtual Private Network (VPN) service or a customer VPN in a multipoint L2VPN service and wherein the outer SP-VLAN tag represents the destination node in the point-to-point L2VPN service or a single attachment circuit on a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS); and transmitting the double SP-VLAN tagged packet to an upstream network device, the upstream network device forwarding and routing the SP-VLAN tagged packet.