Bridging apparatus for traffic filtering in communication networks

Abstract

Abstract A bridging apparatus for receiving and transmitting broadcast and non-broadcast frames from a first communication network to a second communication network in a network system, is provided. The bridging apparatus comprises storage memory for storing the broadcast frames and the non-broadcast frames, and filtering means for controlling and balancing the transmission of the frames to the second communication network. The filtering is performed by alternatively reading and sending a first number of broadcast frames and a second number of non-broadcast frames to the second communication network. The number of broadcast frames and non-broadcast frames being read and send alternatively is based upon the characteristics of the communication networks. The bridging system of the invention further permits to discard either broadcast frames or non-broadcast frames that are received from a first network, when the capacity of the memory in which each type of frame is stored is reached. The system disclosed also permits that a broadcast frame received from a same station may be discarded if it is received within a variable delay. This delay may be defined with respect to the characteristics of the networks, or may be dynamically computed with respect to the time at which the last broadcast frame received from the same station has not been successfully transmitted to the second network.

Inventors

• 👤 Marc Fiammante

Bibliographic Details