Patent ID: 6915349

Claim:
A method for transferring MPOA packets in an ATM network, the method comprising: determining by an MPOA server, which has received an address resolution request packet from an MPOA client, whether or not said address resolution request packet is to be forwarded to another MPOA server or another MPOA client based on layer 3 packet filter information: transmitting by said MPOA client a source layer 3 address of the data packet that is to be a short cut, said source layer 3 address being added as an extension to the MPOA address resolution request packet; and determining by said MPOA server whether or not said MPOA address resolution request packet is to be forwarded to the other MPOA server or the other MPOA client based on said source layer 3 address placed in the extension and a destination layer 3 address in the MPOA address resolution request packet received from said MPOA client, after verifying the layer 3 packet filter information, wherein when the source layer 3 address is not included in the MPOA address resolution request packet, establishing a shortcut between MPOA source client and MPOA destination client and when the source layer 3 address is included in the MPOA address resolution request packet, comparing the source layer 3 address with the destination layer 3 address thereby determining whether communication between the MPOA source client and the MPOA destination client is permitted.