Apparatus and method for segmenting a communication network
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An apparatus comprising a first gateway, the first gateway comprising:
- at least two ports configured to receive traffic from at least a first island and a second island of a network, the received traffic comprising (i) unicast traffic from one or more nodes in the first island, and (ii) at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic comprising diagnostic messages, wherein the diagnostic messages comprise one or more maintenance messages from the one or more nodes in the first island; and
a controller configured to;
determine whether the unicast traffic is destined for the second island;
if the unicast traffic is destined for the second island, replace a medium access control (MAC) address in the unicast traffic with a MAC address of a second gateway and forward the unicast traffic to the second gateway for delivery to one or more nodes in the second island, each of the one or more nodes in the second island having an address containing a device index of the second gateway;
if the unicast traffic is not destined for another island, replace the MAC address in the unicast traffic with a MAC address of a destination and forward the unicast traffic to the destination;
block a portion of the broadcast and multicast diagnostic messages from being forwarded to the second island; and
forward the one or more maintenance messages to the second island, wherein the one or more maintenance messages are configured to provide island-specific address information related to a location of any faults within the first island.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A gateway is used to segment a network, such as a FAULT TOLERANT ETHERNET (FTE) network, into islands. The gateway receives traffic from a first island, forwards part of the traffic to a second island, and blocks another part of the traffic from being forwarded to the second island. The forwarded traffic could include unicast traffic. The blocked traffic could include broadcast or multicast traffic, including diagnostic messages from one or more nodes in the first island.
-
Citations
24 Claims
-
1. An apparatus comprising a first gateway, the first gateway comprising:
-
at least two ports configured to receive traffic from at least a first island and a second island of a network, the received traffic comprising (i) unicast traffic from one or more nodes in the first island, and (ii) at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic comprising diagnostic messages, wherein the diagnostic messages comprise one or more maintenance messages from the one or more nodes in the first island; and a controller configured to; determine whether the unicast traffic is destined for the second island; if the unicast traffic is destined for the second island, replace a medium access control (MAC) address in the unicast traffic with a MAC address of a second gateway and forward the unicast traffic to the second gateway for delivery to one or more nodes in the second island, each of the one or more nodes in the second island having an address containing a device index of the second gateway; if the unicast traffic is not destined for another island, replace the MAC address in the unicast traffic with a MAC address of a destination and forward the unicast traffic to the destination; block a portion of the broadcast and multicast diagnostic messages from being forwarded to the second island; and forward the one or more maintenance messages to the second island, wherein the one or more maintenance messages are configured to provide island-specific address information related to a location of any faults within the first island. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method, comprising:
-
receiving at a first gateway traffic from one or more nodes in a first island of a network, the received traffic comprising (i) unicast traffic from the one or more nodes in the first island, and (ii) at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic comprising diagnostic messages from the one or more nodes in the first island, wherein the diagnostic messages comprise one or more maintenance messages; determining whether the unicast traffic is destined for a second island of the network; if the unicast traffic is destined for the second island, replacing a medium access control (MAC) address in the unicast traffic with a MAC address of a second gateway and forwarding the unicast traffic to the second gateway for delivery to one or more nodes in the second island, each of the one or more nodes in the second island having an address containing a device index of the second gateway; if the unicast traffic is not destined for another island, replacing the MAC address in the unicast traffic with a MAC address of a destination and forwarding the unicast traffic to the destination; blocking a portion of the broadcast and multicast diagnostic messages from being forwarded to the second island; and forwarding the one or more maintenance messages to the second island, wherein the one or more maintenance messages are configured to provide island-specific address information related to a location of any faults within the first island. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying a computer program, the computer program comprising computer readable program code for:
-
receiving at a first gateway traffic from one or more nodes in a first island of a network, the received traffic comprising (i) unicast traffic from the one or more nodes in the first island, and (ii) at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic comprising diagnostic messages from the one or more nodes in the first island, wherein the diagnostic messages comprise one or more maintenance messages from the one or more nodes in the first island; determining whether the unicast traffic is destined for a second island of the network; if the unicast traffic is destined for the second island, replacing a medium access control (MAC) address in the unicast traffic with a MAC address of a second gateway and forwarding the unicast traffic to the second gateway for delivery to one or more nodes in the second island, each of the one or more nodes in the second island having an address containing a device index of the second gateway; if the unicast traffic is not destined for another island, replacing the MAC address in the unicast traffic with a MAC address of a destination and forwarding the unicast traffic to the destination; blocking a portion of the broadcast and multicast diagnostic messages from being forwarded to the second island; and forwarding the one or more maintenance messages to the second island, wherein the one or more maintenance messages are configured to provide island-specific address information related to a location of any faults within the first island. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
Specification