Patent ID: 8077712
Filing Date: 2011-12-13
Classification: H04L,Y02D

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: obtaining traffic that is to be forwarded to a neighboring device, wherein the neighboring device is associated with a local area network (LAN) and enabled to support wake-on-LAN (WOL) functionality, wherein the LAN is compliant with an internet protocol (IP) standard; determining if the neighboring device is in a state that enables the neighboring device to receive the traffic, wherein determining if the neighboring device is in the state that enables the neighboring device to receive the traffic includes sending a probe to the neighboring device and performing a neighbor unreachability detection (NUD) process, the probe being a probe packet, wherein the NUD process includes sending the probe packet to the neighboring device and determining if a response to the probe packet is obtained from the neighboring device, and wherein if the response is not obtained, the neighboring device is not in the state that enables the neighboring device to receive the traffic; automatically sending a first packet to the neighboring device if it is determined that the neighboring device is not in the state that enables the neighboring device to receive the traffic and when a determination is made not to send an additional probe, wherein the first packet is arranged to cause the neighboring device to awaken if the neighboring device is asleep; determining if a response to the first packet is received from the neighboring device within a predetermined time period; and forwarding the traffic to the neighboring device if the response to the first packet is received from the neighboring device within the predetermined time period.