Patent ID: 8737401

Claim:
A communication apparatus comprising: a memory unit which correlates an MPLS (multi-protocol label switching) label assigned to an MPLS packet and an address of a source of the packet, and memorizes said MPLS label and said address as an entry; a receiving unit which receives said MPLS packet from a network; a learning unit which stores said MPLS label assigned to said received packet and an address of a source of said received packet in the memory unit upon existing no entry corresponding to said received MPLS packet in said memory unit; and a processing unit which assigns an address corresponding to said received MPLS packet to said received MPLS packet upon existing an entry corresponding to said received MPLS packet in said memory unit, wherein: upon there existing an entry corresponding to said received packet in said memory unit, said processing unit assigns an address corresponding to said received MPLS packet as a destination MAC (media access control) address of said MPLS received packet; and upon there not existing any entry corresponding to said received MPLS packet in said memory unit, said processing unit generates an MPLS-ARP (MPLS-address resolution protocol) request message which includes an MPLS label of said received MPLS packet and transmits said MPLS-ARP request, wherein said MPLS-ARP request message is used in searching for a MAC address of said MPLS label.