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:
Dec. 05, 2000
Filed:
Oct. 07, 1997
Gregory M Bernstein, Fremont, CA (US);
Alan Chapman, Kanata, CA;
Philip Edholm, Fremont, CA (US);
Jeffrey T Gullicksen, San Jose, CA (US);
Kenneth Gullicksen, Campbell, CA (US);
Northern Telecom Limited, Montreal, CA;
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for accelerating a router in a communications network are described. In one embodiment, a router accelerator includes a forwarding table for associatively storing a destination address and a next hop address. If a destination address of a packet matches a destination address in the forwarding table, then logic forwards the packet to a next hop. A router may be coupled to at least one network port through the router accelerator. In another approach, the network includes at least one host and at least one router. The host has at least one routing table for associatively storing a second-level destination address, a second-level next hop address and a first-level next hop address. A router accelerator includes redirect logic for storing the second-level destination address in a second-level next hop address entry in the at least one host routing table. This causes the host to request a first-level next hop address corresponding to the second-level destination address. An accelerator table responds to the host's request with the bound first-level next hop address. In another approach employing host routing tables, a router accelerator includes request logic for requesting from the router a second-level next hop address in response to the first-level next hop address. Redirect logic stores the second-level next hop address in a second-level next hop address entry in the at least one host routing table. This causes the host to request a first-level next hop address corresponding to the second-level next hop address.