Patent ID: 7929543
Filing Date: 2011-04-19
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A packet forwarding apparatus being located between a plurality of user terminals and a plurality of redundant gateways connected to a transit network for the Internet, the packet forwarding apparatus comprising: a plurality of line interfaces each for communicating with one of said user terminals or one of said redundant gateways through connection lines; and a protocol processing unit for controlling forwarding of user packets and communication control packets among said plurality of line interfaces, said protocol processing unit having a load distribution management table for storing connection load status information of each of said redundant gateways in association with an identifier of the gateway, wherein said protocol processing unit is configured to receive a connection initiation request packet transmitted from one of said user terminals to connect the user terminal to said transit network, forward the connection initiation request packet to said plurality of redundant gateways, receive a plurality of response packets replied from said redundant gateways in response to the connection initiation request packet within a predetermined period of time, forward only one response packet transmitted from particular one of said redundant gateways to the user terminal which is the source of said connection initiation request packet, and forward communication control packets and user packets subsequently received from the user terminal to said particular gateway, wherein said response packet to be forwarded to the user terminal is selected from among said plurality of response packets according to the connection load status information stored in said load distribution management table, wherein the connection load status information stored in said load distribution management table includes the maximum number of connections acceptable by each of said redundant gateways and the number of existing connections being connected with the gateway at present, and wherein said protocol processing unit specifies said response packet to be forwarded to said user terminal by selecting said particular gateway based on a connection ratio determined for each gateway by the maximum number of connections and the number of existing connections.