Patent ID: 8780912

Claim:
A system for routing frames to one of a first loop and a second loop, the system comprising: a first processor; a first storage device connected to the first processor; and a plurality of instructions stored on the first storage device, the plurality of instructions operable to: enable the first processor to receive a frame, cause a mask be to applied to an address field of the frame to produce a filtered address field of the frame, cause the frame to be forwarded to the first loop if the filtered address field of the frame is associated with the first loop, wherein the address field includes a priority indication, cause the frame to be forwarded to the second loop if the filtered address field of the frame is associated with the second loop, cause the frame to be removed if the filtered address field of the frame is not associated with one of the first loop and the second loop, and cause a plurality of filtered address fields to be probed if a second storage device is connected to one of the first loop and the second loop.