Patent ID: 6577630
Filing Date: 2003-06-10
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method of source-aware bridging by a device coupled to a network comprising:maintaining a list of addresses of devices connected to the network by a bridge in association with an address of the bridge to which the devices are connected; associating with the list a channel map for the list; determining if a frame from a local LLC and having a header and a body is to be transmitted onto a medium of the network; if the frame is to be transmitted onto the medium, determining if a destination address in the header matches one of the addresses in the list, a match indicating that it is known that the device is connected to the network by the bridge; and if the destination address matches one of the addresses in the list, replacing the destination address in the header with the address of the bridge associated with the matched one of the addresses and inserting in the body a source address from the header as an original source address and the destination address as an original destination address to enable the bridge to send the frame to the original destination address.