System and method for translucent bridging
First Claim
1. A network bridge, comprising:
- a local network interface configured to transmit and receive local signals in a local network according to a local network protocol;
a bridging network interface configured to transmit and receive bridging signals in a bridging network according to a bridging network protocol;
a control circuit connected between the local network interface and the bridging network interface, configured to pass outgoing local data packets from the local network as outgoing bridging payloads in outgoing bridging data packets to the bridging network and to pass incoming bridging payloads from incoming bridging data packets from the bridging network as incoming local packets to the local network; and
an address translation circuit configured to provide the control circuit with address translation data identifying a correspondence between local packet addresses in the local network and global packet addresses,wherein the control circuit translates outgoing local addresses of the outgoing local data packets to outgoing global addresses based on the address translation data, andwherein the control circuit translates incoming global addresses of the incoming local data packets to incoming local addresses based on the address translation data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A network bridge (160) is provided, comprising: a local interface (320) configured to transmit and receive local signals in a local network (305); a bridging interface (325) configured to transmit and receive bridging signals in a bridging network (310); a control circuit (330) configured to pass outgoing local data packets from the local network to the bridging network and to pass incoming bridging payloads from the bridging network to the local network; and an address translation circuit (340) configured to provide the control circuit with address translation data identifying a correspondence between local packet addresses and global packet addresses. The control circuit translates outgoing local addresses to outgoing global addresses (460), and the control circuit translates incoming global addresses to incoming local addresses (560), based on the address translation data.
16 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A network bridge, comprising:
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a local network interface configured to transmit and receive local signals in a local network according to a local network protocol; a bridging network interface configured to transmit and receive bridging signals in a bridging network according to a bridging network protocol; a control circuit connected between the local network interface and the bridging network interface, configured to pass outgoing local data packets from the local network as outgoing bridging payloads in outgoing bridging data packets to the bridging network and to pass incoming bridging payloads from incoming bridging data packets from the bridging network as incoming local packets to the local network; and an address translation circuit configured to provide the control circuit with address translation data identifying a correspondence between local packet addresses in the local network and global packet addresses, wherein the control circuit translates outgoing local addresses of the outgoing local data packets to outgoing global addresses based on the address translation data, and wherein the control circuit translates incoming global addresses of the incoming local data packets to incoming local addresses based on the address translation data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of processing a local data packet from a local network through a network bridge, comprising:
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receiving the local data packet at the network bridge on a local medium, the local data packet including a local identifier and a local payload; determining whether the local identifier identifies a destination device selected from one or more known devices that are not in the local network; translating the local identifier to a global identifier if the local identifier identifies a destination device selected from one or more known devices that are not in the local network; forming a bridging packet including a local data packet as a bridging payload after translating the local identifier; and sending the bridging packet over a bridging medium. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of processing a bridging packet from a bridging network through a local network bridge in a local network, comprising:
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receiving the bridging packet at the local network bridge on a bridging medium, the bridging packet containing a local data packet as a bridging payload; extracting a local data packet from the bridging packet, the local data packet including a global address and a local payload; determining whether the global identifier identifies a destination device in the local network; translating the global identifier to a local identifier if the global identifier identifies a destination in the local network; and sending the local data packet over a local medium after translating the global identifier. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification