Patent ID: 7796614

Claim:
A method of forwarding at least one ARP request packet between Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) groups served by segmented ports on a network switching device on a network, the method comprising: determining that a source of the at least one ARP request packet is served by a port that is segmented from a port serving a destination of the request packet by, monitoring the status of the at least one ARP request packet; determining that no response to the at least one ARP request packet has been received during a time period, wherein the time period is based on a Time to Live parameter associated with the request packet; and keeping the at least one ARP request packet alive following the expiry of the time period by extending the Time to Live parameter; obtaining routing information for the destination; obtaining routing information for the source; storing routing information for the source and destination; and relaying the at least one ARP request between segmented ports on the device serving the source and the destination using the stored routing information.