Patent ID: 7613187

Claim:
A shared Local Area Network (LAN) emulation method, comprising the steps of: setting up a Logical Link Identifier (LLID) management table for assigning unique LLIDs to a plurality of Optical Network Units (ONUs) and managing the assigned LLIDs so as to identify the plurality of ONUs connected to a single Optical Line Terminal (OLT); setting up a Media Access Control (MAC) address table for the LLIDs learning MAC addresses of the ONUs; assigning the unique LLIDs to ONUs when the ONUs request registration from the OLT; and bridging data frames, which are received by a Shared LAN Emulation (SLE) layer of the OLT, using the LLJDs, VIDs of Virtual LANs to which the ONUs belong and destination MAC addresses of the data frames so as to provide a single matched port between a Logical Link Control (LLC) layer and a MAC layer of the OLT, wherein the step of assigning LLIDs comprises the steps of: if the ONUs having requested registration have been already registered and LLIDs having been already assigned to the ONUs exist in the MAC address table, assigning the LLIDs having been already assigned to the ONUs having requested registration; if the ONUs having requested registration have been already registered but the LLIDs having been already assigned to the ONUs do not exist in the MAC address table, assigning available LLIDs to the ONUs having requested registration; and if the ONUs having requested registration have been already registered but the LLIDs having been already assigned to the ONUs and the available LLIDs do not exist in the MAC address table, assigning new dynamic LLIDs or LLIDs appointed by an operator to the ONUs having requested registration.