Patent ID: 7835372
Filing Date: 2010-11-16
Classification: H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. A bridge device comprising: a first communication interface communicatively coupled with one or more network devices via a respective communication channel; a second communication interface communicatively coupled with one or more remote bridge devices via a communication network; data storage; and an address table stored in said data storage, the address table comprising a plurality of entries, wherein each entry comprises a first address for a network device and a second address for a remote bridge device coupled to the network device via a communication channel; wherein the bridge device is configured to: receive a communication from a sending network device on a first communication channel, the communication comprising a given first address for a target network device; identify in the address table a given second address that is paired with the given first address for the target network device, wherein the given second address is for a remote bridge device coupled to the target network device via a second communication channel; send the communication over the communication network to the remote bridge device having the given second address that is paired with the given first address in the address table; and send a response to the sending network device to avoid a timeout occurring for the communication from the sending network device.