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. 02, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 30, 1999
Vipin Kumar Jain, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Peter Si-Sheng Wang, Cupertino, CA (US);
3Com Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and system for efficiently handling multicast packets by aggregating VLAN (virtual local area network) context. In one embodiment, multicast registration information is received for a first client in one VLAN and then multicast registration information for the second client in a second VLAN. An aggregated list is created of the multicast registration information for the first client and the second client. In this embodiment, the aggregated list of the multicast registration information is forwarded for the first client and the second client to a second intermediate device. Then, when handling a multicast packet at the second intermediate device, the present invention accesses the aggregated list of the multicast registration information for the first client and the second client. As a result, the present invention allows the second intermediate device to perceive having only a single VLAN registered to receive the multicast packet.