Patent ID: 8305938

Claim:
A method for interworking an Ethernet ring network with a spanning tree controlled Ethernet network, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a spanning tree control frame by at least one of two or more bridging nodes concurrently on the Ethernet ring network and part of the Spanning tree protocol controlled Ethernet network in a dual homed fashion; forwarding the spanning tree control frame over the Ethernet ring network; the information in the header of the spanning tree control frame is being arranged such that nodes on the Ethernet ring network will forward the spanning tree control frame as a data frame without processing the data frame as a control frame to enable the Ethernet ring to appear as a single link to the spanning tree controlled Ethernet network; wherein the step of forwarding the spanning tree control frame across the Ethernet ring network causes the Ethernet ring network to appear as a logical link to the spanning tree control instance in the spanning tree protocol controlled Ethernet network; and assigning a high cost to the logical link to prevent traffic intended to remain within the spanning tree protocol controlled Ethernet network from transiting the Ethernet ring network.