Patent ID: 8885490

Claim:
A link state protocol controlled Ethernet network having data plane multicast capability, the network comprising: a first node configured to issue a frame containing a control message signifying a local topology change, the frame being addressed to a control plane specific multicast group address; a second node configured: to receive the frame containing the control message; to perform a reverse path forwarding check on the frame to determine if the frame arrived at the second node on a port expected for multicast frames issued by the first node; to discard the frame immediately when the frame fails the reverse path forwarding check; and when the frame passes the reverse path forwarding check: if the second node is two-connected between two nodes and the frame has been received from one of the two nodes, forwarding the frame to the other of the two nodes; and if the second node is more than two-connected, processing the frame in the control plane before forwarding the frame to another node.