Frame forwarding installation

• US 7,352,746 B1
• Filed: 04/05/2000
• Issued: 04/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Sekihata, Osamu
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham; Chi
• Assistant Examiner(s): HOM, SHICK C
• Application Number:
  US09/543,754
• Time in Patent Office: 2,918 Days
• Field of Search: 370/217, 370/225, 370/235, 370/252, 370/352, 370/349, 370/389, 370/390, 370/392, 370/391, 370/432, 370/437, 370/465, 370/468, 370/227, 370/228, 370/237
• US Class Current: 370/390
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/24 Multipath
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/243 using M+N parallel active paths
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 Route determination based on requested QoS

Abstract

A frame forwarding installation on the side of a transmitting terminal refers to a header of a received frame and determines whether a host application is a real-time application. If the application is a real-time application, the received frame is sent to a plurality of paths in the direction of a destination. When a frame received from a path is transmitted to a destination terminal, a frame forwarding installation on the side of the destination terminal stores the identifier of this frame in a storage unit and, if a frame then newly arrives from a path, determines whether the frame identifier of this frame has been stored in the storage unit. If the newly arriving frame has been stored, it is regarded as being a frame already received and is discarded. If the newly arriving frame is not a frame that has already been received, the received frame is transmitted to the destination terminal and the identifier of this frame is stored.

Claims

1. A frame forwarding installation for sending a received frame to one of a plurality of paths conforming to a destination address contained in a header of the frame, which has been received from a transmitting terminal, comprising:

an application discriminating unit for referring to the header of the received frame and determining whether an application of a host layer in the transmitting terminal is a real-time application; and

a frame transmitting unit for sending in duplicate the received frame to a plurality of paths in parallel in the direction of a destination if the application is the real-time application, and for sending the received frame to one of said plurality of paths in the direction of the destination if the application is not the real-time application.

2. The frame forwarding installation according to claim 1, wherein said application discriminating unit determines that the application of the host layer is the real-time application when a port number of the received frame matches a port number of the real-time application.

3. The frame forwarding installation according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of interface units;

wherein said frame transmitting unit has an address table which specifies the plurality of interface units in association with a destination address and sends the received frame to the plurality of paths via the plurality of interface units, which conform to the destination address, if the application is the real-time application.

4. The frame forwarding installation according to claim 1, further comprising a tag attaching unit for attaching a tag, which includes a frame identifier, to the frame;

wherein the frame forwarding installation on the side of a receiving terminal utilizes the frame identifier when determining whether an identical frame has already been received or not.

5. A frame forwarding installation for sending a received frame to one of a plurality of paths conforming to a destination address contained in a header of the frame, which has been received from a transmitting terminal, comprising:

an application-type discriminating unit for referring to the header of the received frame and discriminating the type of application of a host layer in the transmitting terminal; and

a frame transmitting unit for transmitting in duplicate the received frame to a plurality of paths in parallel in the direction of a destination if the type of application is a predetermined type, and for sending the received frame to one of said plurality of paths in the direction of the destination if the type of application is not the predetermined type.

6. The frame forwarding installation according to claim 5, wherein said application-type discriminating unit discriminates the type of application of the host layer from a TCP port number of the received frame.

7. The frame forwarding installation according to claim 5, further comprising a plurality of interface units;

wherein said frame transmitting unit has an address table which specifies the plurality of interface units in association with the destination address and sends the received frame to the plurality of paths via the plurality of interface units, which conform to the destination address, if the type application is the predetermined type.

8. The frame forwarding installation according to claim 5, further comprising a tag attaching unit for attaching a tag, which includes a frame identifier, to a frame;

wherein a frame forwarding installation on the side of a receiving terminal utilizes the frame identifier when determining whether an identical frame has already been received or not.

9. A frame forwarding installation for sending a received frame to one of a plurality of paths conforming to a destination address contained in a header of the frame, which has been received from a transmitting terminal, comprising:

an address-match discriminating unit for determining whether the destination address or transmission-source address contained in the header of the received frame matches an address that has already been registered; and

a frame transmitting unit for sending in duplicate the received frame to a plurality of paths in parallel in the direction of a destination if the addresses match, and for sending the received frame to one of said plurality of paths in the direction of the destination if the addresses do not match.

10. The frame forwarding installation according to claim 9, further comprising a plurality of interface units;

wherein said frame transmitting unit has an address table which specifies a plurality of interface units in association with a destination address and sends the received frame to a plurality of paths via a plurality of interface units, which conform to a destination address, if the addresses match.

11. The frame forwarding installation according to claim 9, further comprising a tag attaching unit for attaching a tag, which includes a frame identifier, to the frame;

wherein a frame forwarding installation on the side of a receiving terminal utilizes the frame identifier when determining whether an identical frame has already been received or not.