Patent ID: 7881228

Claim:
A method for delivering multicast/broadcast data frames originating from one of a plurality of locations via a service virtual local area network (S-VLAN) to one or more of the plurality of locations within a customer network and wherein, the S-VLAN includes multiple Ethernet switches communicatively coupled to the plurality of locations within the customer network, comprising: analyzing ingress multicast/broadcast data frames, including customer virtual local area network identifiers (C-VIDs) that identify one or more divisions within the plurality of locations, wherein the ingress multicast/broadcast data frames are received via at least one incoming port of at least one of the multiple Ethernet switches; learning the C-VIDs of the ingress multicast/broadcast data frames via a learning module of the at least one of the multiple Ethernet switches; storing the learnt C-VIDs in the at least one of the multiple Ethernet switches; and forwarding the ingress multicast/broadcast data frames to only those of the plurality of locations that include the one or more divisions identified by the C-VIDs included in the ingress multicast/broadcast data frames, via one or more outgoing ports of the at least one of the multiple Ethernet switches, based on the learnt and stored C-VIDs.