PROCESS FOR TRANSFERRING DATA PACKETS BETWEEN EMULATED LANS

摘要

PCT No. PCT/DE96/01167 Sec. 371 Date Dec. 22, 1997 Sec. 102(e) Date Dec. 22, 1997 PCT Filed Jul. 1, 1996 PCT Pub. No. WO97/02718 PCT Pub. Date Jan. 23, 1997A distinction is made between unicast frames and multicast/broadcast frames for the transmission of information packets between a source LEC of a first ELAN and a destination LEC of a second ELAN. After initiation of a connection setup, unicast information packets are transmitted between source LEC and destination LEC via a wide-area ATM network upon employment of the destination ATM address. Multicast/broadcast information packets are transmitted from the source LEC to the destination LECs via a CLS wide-area network offering a connectionless service. For the transmission of the multicast/broadcast information packets, a specific LEC in every ELAN of an exemplary embodiment is coupled to the CLS network via a bridge or a router. In one exemplary embodiment, the CLS network is employed for determining a destination ATM address of a destination LEC for the unicast transmission.