Patent ID: 6781953
Filing Date: 2004-08-24
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method of distributing a broadcast frame within a network, comprising:receiving the broadcast frame in a bridging-device of the network through a receiving port; and forwarding the frame to a group of bridging-devices selected responsive to whether the receiving port is an internal port which leads to bridging-devices which are connected with a full mesh topology and are included in a common cluster with the receiving bridging-device and responsive to data with respect to the status of the full mesh topology, wherein forwarding to the group of bridging-devices comprises forwarding through all the ports of the receiving bridging-device not including the receiving port, when the receiving port is not an internal port, forwarding through a group of ports which does not include internal ports of the receiving bridging-device, when the receiving port is an internal port, and forwarding a duplicate frame to at least one of the group of bridging-devices when the data indicates that the full mesh topology is lost.