Patent ID: 8615599

Claim:
A method comprising: at a node that is part of a first cluster of nodes arranged in a ring configuration in a network and configured to communicate with every other one of the nodes of the first cluster, broadcasting a first frame to a second cluster of nodes in the network on a plurality of point-to-point interconnects that are configured to carry broadcast and unicast communications and that are connected between the first cluster and the second cluster; at the node that is part of the first cluster, receiving from a node in the second cluster a second frame on a first interconnect of the plurality of interconnects; broadcasting the second frame to nodes within the first cluster; at nodes in the first cluster, recognizing the first interconnect of the plurality of interconnects and that the second frame is a received frame; and at nodes in the first cluster that control a corresponding one of the plurality of interconnects and which receive the second frame, blocking the second frame from being returned to the second cluster from the first cluster on any of the plurality of interconnects after broadcasting the second frame to nodes within the first cluster and recognizing the first interconnect of the plurality of interconnects.