Patent ID: 8605574

Claim:
A method for updating an address table in a node of an Ethernet ring network, comprising: the node detecting that the node cannot transmit data through a port of the node; and in response to the detection: the node switching a state of the port from an unblocked state to a blocked state; the node updating its forwarding database to reflect a state change at the port; and after the node updates its forwarding database to reflect a state change at the port, the node notifying a master node of the Ethernet ring network of the state change at the port of the node, wherein, in response to the state change at the port of the node notified by the node, the master node unblocks a ring, protection link associated with the master node and updates its forwarding database so that other nodes of the Ethernet ring network can update their respective forward databases in response to the unblocking of the ring protection link.