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:
Feb. 15, 2005
Filed:
Oct. 10, 2000
Jari Artes, Helsinki, FI;
Jari Artes, Helsinki, FI;
Stonesoft Oy, Helsinki, FI;
Abstract
The invention relates to methods for transmission of data, more particularly for transmission of data in clustered structures in IP networks. According to the invention, the cluster units are configured to be members of an IP multicast group specific to the cluster. The switch or switches directly connected to the cluster units are arranged to monitor multicast group membership reports from the cluster units, and therefore obtain knowledge about which ports of the switch or switches are connected to cluster units. Advantageously, the switch or switches may also send membership queries to find out, which ports are connected to members of the cluster multicast group. Consequently, when the switch receives a packet with a multicast MAC address and the IP address of the cluster, the switch sends the packet to only those ports to which cluster units are connected, and not to all ports of the switch as according to the prior art.