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:
Jun. 29, 2004
Filed:
Sep. 14, 2000
Peter Furlong, Dublin, IE;
Daniel M O'Keeffe, Ballyhooly, IE;
Eoghan Stack, Dublin, IE;
Neil J Clifford, Dublin, IE;
Eoin O'Brien, Dublin, IE;
3Com Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
In a stack of multi-port network communication units each unit has a forwarding database, the units are connected by way of a cascade, and at least some of the units are connected to links constituting a trunk. When a unicast data packet is received at a first of said units and the unicast data packet has a destination address which is not the subject of an entry in the forwarding database of the first unit, the unicast data packet is sent by way of the cascade to the other units in the stack, accompanied by a flag. When a second unit has in its forwarding database an entry, associating the destination address with forwarding data, it sends a management packet indicating said destination address and the identity of said second unit, so that the database of the first unit can be immediately updated.