Patent ID: 7796591

Claim:
An access multiplexer for multiplexing Internet Protocol packets to be exchanged between a network device and a subscriber device, wherein the Internet Protocol packets being exchanged between the network device and the access multiplexer are encapsulated by the access multiplexer into first packets including first encapsulations, the Internet Protocol packets being exchanged between the subscriber device and the access multiplexer are encapsulated by the access multiplexer into second packets including second encapsulations, the access multiplexer includes an Internet Protocol router for routing the Internet Protocol packets via direction dependent routes, the direction dependent routes being based on a destination address and including a first route for routing the Internet Protocol packets in the downstream direction and a second route for routing the Internet Protocol packets in the upstream direction, the first route and the second route being different routes, and the direction dependent routes include at least two default routes for routing an Internet Protocol packet from a network interface of the access multiplexer to a subscriber interface of the access multiplexer including, a multicast Internet Protocol destination address, and a broadcast Internet Protocol destination; and the direction dependent routes for routing an Internet Protocol packet from the subscriber interface of the access multiplexer to the network interface of the access multiplexer include, the multicast Internet Protocol destination address, and the broadcast Internet Protocol destination address.