Patent ID: 7031309

Claim:
A transmission frame for transporting information in a plurality of interconnected communication networks including a plurality of communication nodes, wherein an originating node of said transmission frame belongs to a home network corresponding to one of said plurality of interconnected communications networks, said frame comprising: a message field containing message information; and a plurality of destination node addresses to facilitate transmission of said frame to different destination nodes, wherein each destination node address identifies a different final destination in the plurality of interconnected communication networks to receive said frame transmitted by said originating node, and wherein said frame supports said destination node addresses in the form of local home network addresses and extended network addresses indicating networks other than said home network; an extended network identifier selectively included within said frame for said destination node addresses to identify a network for a corresponding destination node address other than said home network of said originating node to which to send the message information; and an extended address indicator indicating the presence of said extended network identifier for corresponding destination node addresses.