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. 13, 2015
Filed:
Sep. 28, 2010
Richard Paul King, Madison, AL (US);
Andrew T. Ruble, Elkmont, AL (US);
Joseph Lee Boyd, Harvest, AL (US);
Richard Paul King, Madison, AL (US);
Andrew T. Ruble, Elkmont, AL (US);
Joseph Lee Boyd, Harvest, AL (US);
ADTRAN, Inc., Huntsville, AL (US);
Abstract
The present disclosure generally pertains to network systems and methods that efficiently drop packets carried by virtual circuits. In one exemplary embodiment, a packet network has at least a first node having a first port that is coupled directly to a second port of a second node. A virtual circuit is established such that a virtual connection exists between the two ports. The first node communicates with the second node to determine whether the second node is provisioned such that the second port is a member of the virtual circuit. If the second node is not provisioned such that the second port is a member of the virtual circuit, then the first node drops the data packets that (1) are carried by the virtual circuit and (2) are to be forwarded to the first port, as indicated by virtual circuit (VC) mapping data in the first node. Thus, the dropped packets are prevented from usurping capacity that otherwise could be used to transmit other packets between the two nodes.