Patent ID: 7957420

Claim:
A method, comprising: providing a packet transfer node with hierarchical packet processing layers including a higher layer and a lower layer, the higher layer having a routing function to transfer a first packet among a first set of packet transfer nodes within one of one or more network areas in a network and/or among the one or more network areas, the lower layer having a function to transfer a second packet among a second set of packet transfer nodes in the network, the lower layer further including a driver for performing data communication via one or more communication links provided for the packet transfer node, and a bridge processing section for controlling a packet transfer and transferring the second packet among the second set of packet transfer nodes in the network; receiving, by the driver, a first incoming packet from a first communication link; building, by the driver, a second incoming packet by appending reception interface identification information identifying the first communication link to the first incoming packet so that the second incoming packet includes both the reception interface identification information and the first incoming packet; determining, by the bridge processing section, whether the first incoming packet included in the second incoming packet is the first packet to be transferred by the higher layer or the second packet to be transferred by the lower layer, based on the reception interface identification information included in the second incoming packet; passing, by the bridge processing section, the second incoming packet to the higher layer when determined that the first incoming packet included in the second incoming packet is the first packet; and performing, by the bridge processing section, packet transfer processing on the second incoming packet within the lower layer without passing the second incoming packet to the higher layer when determined that the first incoming packet included in the second incoming packet is the second packet, so as to allow the higher layer to perform packet processing without being affected by packet processing of the lower layer, wherein when it is determined that the first incoming packet included in the second incoming packet is the second packet, the bridge processing section extracts the first incoming packet from the second incoming packet and transfers, within the lower layer, the extracted first incoming packet directly to a second communication link with no extra information added to outside of the extracted first incoming packet.