Patent ID: 6262976
Filing Date: 2001-07-17
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
In a network including a plurality of switches, hosts and links connecting said switches and hosts into a topology, a method of ordering said network comprising:dividing said switches into two classes, interior and exterior, wherein said interior class switches only have links to other switches and hosts within said network, and exterior class switches have at least one link to other networks or entities outside of said network;within said interior class, determining a central switch within said interior class, said central switch determined by having the most links to other interior switches;determining an ordering of all switches in said interior class, based on number of links to other interior switches, starting from said determined central switch;determining an ordering of all switches in said exterior class, based on number of links to interior switches; starting from 1 greater than the number of interior class switches;for each switch, ordering all links connected to that switch by said ordering of said interior and exterior class switches, wherein a link to a switch with a lower ordering number will precede a link to a switch with a higher ordering number; and numbering said ordered links from 1 up to total number of links connected to that switch.