Patent ID: 6343322
Filing Date: 2002-01-29
Classification: H04L,H04Q

Abstract:
A network interconnection apparatus for transferring packets at a boundary of a plurality of networks, the apparatus comprising:a control message processing unit configured to communicate with a previous hop node in one of the plurality of networks by a first control message including a first identification information for identifying an upstream path from the previous hop node to the network interconnection apparatus and a specification information for specifying a group of packets to be transferred on the upstream path, and configured to communicate with a next hop node in another of the plurality of networks by a second control message including a second identification information for identifying a downstream path from the network interconnection apparatus to the next hop node and a specification information for specifying a group of packets to be transferred on the downstream path; a memory unit configured to store a first identifier at a layer lower than layer 3 of the upstream path and a second identifier at a layer lower than layer 3 of the downstream path corresponding to the upstream path, according to the first and second control messages used by the control message processing unit; and a transfer unit configured to transfer a packet from the upstream path to the corresponding downstream path, referring to the memory unit.