Patent ID: 7813376

Claim:
A network device to provide network access to a plurality of subscriber devices, the network device comprising: a static lower layer two (L2) software interface that process communications from a lower L2 software interface of a subscriber device in accordance with a lower L2 network protocol; and a dynamic upper L2 software interface that processes communication from an upper L2 software interface of the subscriber device in accordance with an upper L2 network protocol, wherein, when the upper L2 software interface of the network device is terminated, a proxy software module of the lower L2 software interface of the network device operates on behalf of the upper L2 software interface of the network device and outputs a termination request in accordance with the upper L2 network protocol to reinitiate communications in accordance with the upper L2 network protocol, wherein the proxy software interface extracts identifying information from an upper L2 frame constructed by the upper L2 software interface of the subscriber device and forms the termination request based on the identifying information.