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:
Jan. 18, 2011
Filed:
Feb. 04, 2003
Thomas P. Chu, Englishtown, NJ (US);
Francis R. Magee, Lincroft, NJ (US);
Steven H. Richman, Marlboro, NJ (US);
Zhengxue Zhao, Marlboro, NJ (US);
Thomas P. Chu, Englishtown, NJ (US);
Francis R. Magee, Lincroft, NJ (US);
Steven H. Richman, Marlboro, NJ (US);
ZhengXue Zhao, Marlboro, NJ (US);
Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc., Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
Methods and systems for forwarding packets over Label Switched Paths (LSPs) in a Virtual Private Network (VPN) are implemented within a Layer-2 architecture. A system includes a number of multi-purpose nodes connected by a number of multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) LSP links. Each multi-purpose node contains at least one bridging module (BM) that runs an extension of a bridging protocol (BP) contained in the IEEE 802.1d standard. The BP is used to establish MPLS LSPs between the BMs. The BP then generates a spanning tree using a spanning tree program to establish an optimal number of active LSPs. The remaining LSPs are then set to 'inactive' The BM de-allocates the resources assigned to inactive LSPs and makes the resources available to other active LSPs.