Patent ID: 8687523

Claim:
A method comprising: generating information, wherein the information causes a network node that does not support a ring protocol to drop a ring protocol packet comprising the information, upon receiving the ring protocol packet, the information allows another network node that supports the ring protocol to process a ring protocol packet comprising the information, upon receiving the ring protocol packet, the information comprises a reserved address and a ring protocol identifier, the reserved address is configured to trigger parsing of a protocol type field in the ring protocol packet, and the protocol type field comprises the ring protocol identifier; generating the ring protocol packet, wherein the generating is performed by a first network node, and the first network node supports the ring protocol; including the information in the ring protocol packet; and sending the ring protocol packet from the first network node to a second network node, wherein the second network node is coupled to the first network node by a ring network, and the second network node does not support the ring protocol.