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:
Mar. 20, 2001
Filed:
Feb. 11, 1997
Brian T. Mayo, Groton, MA (US);
Stanley P. Sassower, Burlington, MA (US);
Joseph N. Horowitz, Lawrence, MA (US);
Landis C. Rogers, Kingston, NH (US);
Newbridge Networks Corporation, Kanata, CA;
Abstract
A network infrastructure comprises a number of connective devices (routers, repeaters, bridges, etc.) to form a communication network for a plurality of end nodes. Message packets originating with an end node are assigned an input virtual network and workgroup identification at the port at which the packet enters the network. This assigned input virtual network and workgroup identification is compared, at each port from which the packet can exit the network infrastructure, with output virtual network and workgroup identification assigned the particular port. If the input virtual network information does not match the output virtual network information, the packet is prohibited from exiting that port. Even if there is a match between the input and output virtual network information, there must also be a match between at least one bit of the input workgroup identification and the output workgroup identification before the packet can exit the port.