Patent ID: 8165157

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a first lower-layer packet at a first lower-layer entity of a compatibility device, wherein the compatibility device is configured to communicate using a first plurality of lower-layer protocols, wherein the first plurality of lower-layer protocols comprises a first lower-layer protocol, and a second plurality of lower-layer protocols, wherein the second plurality of lower-layer protocols comprises a second lower-layer protocol, the first lower-layer protocol and the second lower-layer protocol are incompatible with one another, the first lower-layer entity is configured to communicate with a first network using the first lower-layer protocol, the first lower-layer packet comprises an upper-layer packet, and a first lower-layer address, the first lower-layer address is a destination address of the first lower-layer entity, the destination address is internal to the compatibility device, the first lower-layer entity is configured to be communicatively coupled to a second network via a second lower-layer entity of the compatibility device, the compatibility device comprises the first lower-layer entity and the second lower-layer entity, the upper-layer packet is addressed to an upper-layer entity communicatively coupled to the second network, and the second lower-layer entity is configured to communicate with the second network via a third lower-layer entity, using the second lower-layer protocol; and generating a second lower-layer packet based on the first lower-layer packet, wherein a companion relationship represents a one-to-one correspondence between the first lower-layer entity and the third lower-layer entity, the second lower-layer packet comprises at least a portion of the upper-layer packet, and a second lower-layer address, the second lower-layer address is a lower-layer destination address of the third lower-layer entity, and the second lower-layer address is determined using the companion relationship.