Patent ID: 8902908

Claim:
A method, comprising: a plurality of operations performed by a network bridge supporting more than 4096 independent Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs), wherein a VLAN identifier included in a received frame is a twelve-bit 802.1Q compliant VLAN identifier, wherein the plurality of operations include: receiving a particular frame on a particular interface of a plurality of interfaces of the network bridge, said received particular frame including a particular 802.1Q compliant VLAN identifier wherein the particular interface is identified based on a particular tunnel on which the particular frame was received; determining a particular VLAN corresponding to said received particular frame based on the particular 802.1Q compliant VLAN identifier and the particular interface, wherein the network bridge is currently supporting a second VLAN independent of the particular VLAN with the second VLAN also being associated with the particular 802.1Q compliant VLAN identifier; forwarding said received particular frame out one or more particular interfaces of the network bridge, said one or more particular interfaces corresponding to the particular VLAN; with a VLAN identifier of said forwarded particular frame being the particular 802.1Q compliant VLAN identifier; receiving a second frame on a second interface of the plurality of interfaces of the network bridge, the second frame including the particular 802.1Q compliant VLAN identifier; identifying the second VLAN corresponding to the second frame based on the particular 802.1Q compliant VLAN identifier and the second interface; forwarding the second frame out one or more interfaces of the network bridge, said one or more interfaces corresponding to the second VLAN; wherein: the particular 802.1Q compliant VLAN identifier, of the particular frame, is mapped into a particular internal number representing the particular VLAN based on the particular 802.1Q compliant VLAN identifier and the particular interface; the particular 802.1Q compliant VLAN identifier, of the second frame, is mapped into a second internal number representing the second VLAN based on the particular 802.1Q compliant VLAN identifier and the second interface; identifying based on the particular internal number where to forward the particular frame; and identifying based on the second internal number where to forward the second frame.