Patent ID: 7088737

Claim:
A method comprising: concurrently receiving a number of streams of Internet Protocol (IP) packets from a physical medium on which is currently configured a real circuit and a number of virtual circuits, wherein the number of virtual circuits are within the real circuit such that the number of Internet Protocol (IP) packets on the real circuit have an IP over Ethernet encapsulation and the number of Internet Protocol (IP) packets on the number of virtual circuits have a Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet encapsulation; deencapsulating the number of Internet Protocol (IP) packets having the IP over Ethernet encapsulation; deencapsulating the number of Internet Protocol (IP) packets having the Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet encapsulation; and forwarding the number of Internet Protocol (IP) packets having the IP over Ethernet encapsulation and the Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet encapsulation based on an address stored in the number of Internet Protocol (IP) packets.