Patent ID: 7944918
Filing Date: 2011-05-17
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: prior to establishing within a network device an Internet Protocol (IP) interface associated with a subscriber device, receiving a packet on an Ethernet port of the network device, wherein the packet includes Ethernet tagging information and a subscriber information string comprising an Agent Circuit Identifier (ACI) that identifies the subscriber device that sent the packet; prior to establishing the IP interface associated with the subscriber device, dynamically building within the network device a primary virtual local area network (VLAN) sub-interface (PVS) associated with a network switch that transferred the packet from the subscriber device to the network device based on the Ethernet tagging information; prior to establishing the IP interface associated with the subscriber device, dynamically building within the network device a subscriber VLAN sub-interface (SVS) associated with the subscriber device based on the ACI; and dynamically building within the network device a subscriber specific interface stack over the SVS based on a protocol to which the packet conforms, wherein the subscriber specific interface stack is based on the ACI and handles traffic associated with the ACI.