The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 05, 2000
Filed:
Sep. 11, 1997
John A Flanders, Ashland, MA (US);
Ryan T Ross, Londonderry, NH (US);
William D Townsend, Groton, MA (US);
Thomas A Lemaire, Acton, MA (US);
Thomas V Radogna, Westborough, MA (US);
Robert A Ciampa, Andover, MA (US);
Brian W Bailey, Lunenburg, MA (US);
3Com Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
At least a portion of the data units in a bridge/router are processed by logic circuits according to cast type. The cast type, source address and destination address of an incoming data unit are determined by examining the header. For a unicast data unit, the source address and destination address are employed to obtain a transmit port indicator from memory, and the unicast data unit is directed to the port indicated by the transmit port indicator. For a non-unicast data unit, the source address and destination address are employed to obtain a first port mask that indicates valid ports for receipt of the data unit and a second port mask that indicates valid ports for transmission of the data unit from memory. The first and second port masks are combined to generate a third port mask, and the non-unicast data unit is directed to the ports indicated by the third port mask.