Patent ID: 7948993

Claim:
A method provided in a hybrid node operating first and second bridging protocols, the method allowing for an incremental transitioning of nodes in said network from the first bridging protocol to the second bridging protocol, wherein said nodes are coupled to end stations, wherein the first bridging protocol shares Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of end stations amongst all nodes and end stations directly coupled to each other with the first bridging protocol, and wherein nodes operating the first bridging protocol store the shared end station MAC addresses in a MAC address table, the method comprising the steps of: operating the first bridging protocol on a first port of the hybrid node, wherein the first port is coupled to a first node operating the first bridging protocol and not the second bridging protocol; operating the second bridging protocol on a plurality of other ports of the hybrid node; receiving address announcement packets and address request packets on each of said ports, wherein the address announcement packets and the address request packets contain MAC addresses and are of a protocol that resolves addresses; and, limiting with the hybrid node the number of MAC addresses that the first node stores in its MAC address table, the step of limiting comprising the steps of: broadcasting the address request packets received on the first port out the plurality of other ports; initially broadcasting each of the address request packets received on one of the plurality of other ports out the others of the plurality of other ports but not out the first port; broadcasting out the first port only a subset of the address request packets received on the plurality of other ports, wherein a criteria for inclusion in the subset is that an initially broadcast address request packet went unanswered; and, broadcasting the address announcement packets received on the first port out the plurality of other ports while inhibiting the broadcast of address announcement packets received on the plurality of other ports out of the first port.