Patent ID: 8811154

Claim:
A packet forwarding system comprising: a first packet forwarding device that forms a redundancy group with another packet forwarding device, the first packet forwarding device being configured to switch a master operation and a backup operation with the another packet forwarding device in a complementary manner; and a proxy device, wherein the first packet forwarding device is configured to switch a first operation mode and a second operation mode in the backup operation, the first operation mode is a normal mode, the normal mode monitoring a control packet transmitted regarding the redundancy group from the another packet forwarding device that performs the master operation, and the second operation mode is a power saving mode, the power saving mode not monitoring the control packet transmitted from the another packet forwarding device, the proxy device is configured to monitor the control packet transmitted from the another packet forwarding device on behalf of the first packet forwarding device when the first packet forwarding device is in the second operation mode, and to control switching between the first and second operation modes of the first packet forwarding device based on monitor result of the control packet, and to stop monitoring the control packet transmitted from the another packet forwarding device when the first packet forwarding device is in the first operation mode, and the redundancy group excludes the proxy device in the first and second operation modes.