US 12,244,496 B2
IP-based forwarding of bridged and routed IP packets and unicast ARP
Sameer Merchant, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Thomas James Edsall, Los Gatos, CA (US); and Navindra Yadav, Cupertino, CA (US)
Assigned to Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed by Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed on Feb. 26, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/187,332.
Application 17/187,332 is a continuation of application No. 14/301,239, filed on Jun. 10, 2014, granted, now 10,951,522.
Claims priority of provisional application 61/900,228, filed on Nov. 5, 2013.
Claims priority of provisional application 61/900,349, filed on Nov. 5, 2013.
Prior Publication US 2021/0184972 A1, Jun. 17, 2021
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H04L 45/74 (2022.01); H04L 61/103 (2022.01)
CPC H04L 45/74 (2013.01) [H04L 61/103 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
10. A network device comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory, storing instructions which when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to:
receive, from a source host connected to a network, a packet;
identify, from the packet, an internet protocol (IP) address of a destination host;
determine a location of a second network device connected to the destination host regardless of whether the second network device is located on a same subnet, at least in part by matching one or more IP addresses with one or more locations on the network based on location information stored on the network without reference to a media access control (MAC) address specified in the packet; and
in response to and based on identifying the second network device from the location information, forward the packet to the second network device connected to the destination host without reference to the MAC address specified in the packet.