Patent ID: 7724736
Filing Date: 2010-05-25
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A frame forwarding apparatus comprising: a receiving unit receiving a frame including a source address, a destination address and a VWAN (Virtual Wide Area Network) identifier; a converting unit converting a VWAN identifier in the frame into one of degenerate VWAN identifiers that the number of adoptable values thereof is smaller than the number of VWAN identifiers; a storage unit containing at least one entry containing the source address in the frame, a degenerate VWAN identifier that a VWAN identifier in the frame is converted, and path information representing a path via which the frame is received; a retrieving unit retrieving, from said storage unit, an entry corresponding to the destination address in the frame and the degenerate VWAN identifier in the frame; a restoring unit restoring the degenerate VWAN identifier in the frame into the original VWAN identifier; and a transmitting unit transmitting the frame based on the path information in the entry retrieved.