Patent ID: 7965653
Filing Date: 2011-06-21
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. An intermediate network device having a plurality of ports for sending and receiving network messages to and from entities of a computer network at least some of which are segregated into a plurality of virtual local area network (VLANs) defined within the computer network, the intermediate network device comprising: a central processor unit (CPU); and a compact-Generic Application Registration Protocol (GARP) VLAN Registration Protocol (GVRP) application component associated with a selected port that is executable by the CPU, the compact-GVRP application component having: a GARP Information Declaration (GID) component configured to maintain VLAN registration state for the selected port in response to receiving attribute events for the VLANs, a compact-GVRP encoder/decoder unit; and a GVRP protocol data unit (PDU) message generator, wherein the compact-GVRP encoder/decoder unit is configured to compute encoded values, in accordance with a number base conversion encoding algorithm that encodes a plurality of attribute events that are each associated with a different VLAN of a given set of VLANs into each encoded value, and the GVRP PDU message generator is configured to load each encoded value into a separate field within a single attribute structure of a single GVRP PDU message, wherein the encoded values computed for all of the VLANs defined within the computer network are loaded within the single attribute structure of the single GVRP PDU message for transmission from the selected port.