Method to support VLANs on a phoneline network

• US 6,781,989 B1
• Filed: 11/17/2000
• Issued: 08/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: GlobalFoundries, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
• Inventors: Acharya, Yatin
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, HANH N
• Application Number:
  US09/715,433
• Time in Patent Office: 1,376 Days
• Field of Search: 370/231, 370/235, 370/389, 370/392, 370/395.53, 370/401, 370/402, 709/220, 709/238, 709/245, 709/250, 709/321, 709/324, 709/327, 709/328
• US Class Current: 370/392
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4645 Details on frame tagging routing of packets H04L45/00; support for virtual LAN H04L49/354

Abstract

The present invention is a method of communicating within a phone line LAN. The method includes the assignment of a unique VLAN ID to each node of a VLAN. A VLAN header is attached at a source node of the frame to each frame to be communicated within the VLAN. The VLAN header contains identification information associated with the VLAN. The VLAN header is inserted by a network interface device driver into a frame header. Data communication within the VLAN is controlled at the nodes of the VLAN by examining incoming frames for the presence or absence of the VLAN header. The VLAN header is stripped at the destination nodes of the VLAN from the frame header and a remaining part of the frame is passed to a software device driver arrangement.

Claims

1. A method of communicating within a local area network (LAN) which includes at least some nodes of a phone line LAN, the method comprising:

attaching, at a source node of a frame, a VLAN header containing VLAN identification information to each frame to be communicated within the VLAN, wherein the VLAN header is inserted by a device driver into a frame header;

controlling communication at nodes of the VLAN by examining incoming frames for the presence or absence of the VLAN header; and

stripping, at destination nodes of the VLAN, the VLAN header from the frame and passing a remaining part of the frame to a software device driver arrangement,

wherein the attaching the VLAN header is accomplished by a network medium interface device including a first physical layer device and a second physical layer device,

wherein the first physical layer device is configured to communicate in accordance with a first Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HPNA) specification, and

wherein the second physical layer device is configured to communicate in accordance with a second HPNA specification.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the VLAN identification information includes a 4-byte VLAN ID.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the VLAN header includes the VLAN identification information in a VLAN ID and a VLAN tag.

4. A method of communicating within a plurality of virtual local area networks (VLANs) which include parts of a phone line LAN, the method comprising:

registering each node of a LAN to at least one VLAN by assigning a unique VLAN ID to each node;

attaching, at a source node of a frame, a VLAN header to each frame to be communicated within a specific VLAN, the VLAN header containing identification information associated with the specific VLAN, wherein the VLAN header is inserted by a device driver into a frame header; and

controlling communication at nodes of the specific VLAN by examining incoming frames for the presence or absence of the VLAN header associated with the specific VLAN; and

stripping, at destination nodes of the specific VLAN, the VLAN header from the frame header and passing a remaining part of the frame to a software device driver arrangement;

whereby the frame to be communicated within the specific VLAN remains within the nodes of the specific VLAN, exclusively,

wherein the attaching the VLAN header is accomplished by a network medium interface device including a first physical layer device and a second physical layer device,

wherein the first physical layer device is configured to communicate in accordance with a first Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HPNA) specification, and

wherein the second physical layer device is configured to communicate in accordance with a second HPNA specification.

5. A method of communicating within a local area network (LAN) which includes at least some of the nodes of a mixed network of a phone line LAN, the method comprising the steps of:

assigning a unique VLAN ID to each node of the VLAN;

attaching, at a source node of a frame, a VLAN header to each frame to be communicated within the VLAN, the VLAN header containing VLAN identification information in the form of the VLAN ID associated with the VLAN, wherein the VLAN header is inserted by a device driver into a frame header;

controlling communication at nodes of the VLAN by examining incoming frames for the presence or absence of the VLAN header; and

stripping, at destination nodes of the frame, the VLAN header from the frame header and passing a remaining part of the frame to a software device driver arrangement,

wherein the attaching the VLAN header is accomplished by a network medium interface device including a first physical layer device and a second physical layer device,

wherein the first physical layer device is configured to communicate in accordance with a first Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HPNA) specification,

wherein the second physical layer device is configured to communicate in accordance with a second HPNA specification,

wherein a mixed network includes at least one node configured to communicate in accordance with a first Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HPNA) specification, and

wherein at least one other node is configured to communicate in accordance with a second HPNA specification.