Abstract: A method and apparatus for forwarding multicast data packets in a meshed topology network. A packet forwarding device receives a multicast data packet at an ingress port of the packet forwarding device, determines if the multicast data packet has been previously received, and if so, discards the multicast data packet. Otherwise, the packet forwarding device determines the appropriate ports of the packet forwarding device out which the multicast data packet is to be forwarded according to a packet forwarding control protocol and forwards the multicast data packet out the appropriate ports.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for routing packets within a computer network uses linear optimization techniques to distribute the packet traffic over all potential links between a source and a destination node within the network. Network traffic is allocated to links coupled to a source node in a manner that is proportional to the bandwidth of links across complete paths which are fed from such links coupled to the source node. A set of metrics, in the form of complex numbers, is determined for a predetermined set of links within the network. The metrics are arranged as a matrix, and a linear optimization operation is performed using the matrix to determine percentage traffic distribution over links coupling the source node and the destination node in the network. Routing tables are then established to route traffic within the network according to the percentage values resulting from the linear optimization operation.

Abstract: A system and method for reducing the impact of high latency links for interactive applications is described. In one embodiment, a list identifying locally stored data, which correspond to a data page, is received. Additionally, an index page corresponding to the data page is received. This index page can include a list of data objects included in the web page. Next, a determination is made as to which data objects included in the index page are subject to a prefetch, and a corresponding prefetch request is generated.

Abstract: A system and method for reducing the impact of high latency links for interactive applications is described. In one embodiment, a user, connected to the Internet by a satellite network, requests a web page from an origin server. The origin server generates an index page associated with the requested web page and passes that index page to an gateway PEP (performance enhancing proxy), which parses the index page to identify the objects identified therein. Next, the gateway PEP generates the requests to prefetch those identified objects and passes those requests to the origin server. These objects are then retrieved and pushed to the user. To avoid repetitive requests, the fetch requests normally generated by a web browser are blocked by a client PEP.

Abstract: An apparatus for classifying a packet within a data stream in a network includes a state machine into which certain functionality has been hardwired. Specifically, the state machine defines in hardware a predetermined number of states and a predetermined number of transitions between these states. The state machine outputs a state value which is indicative of the classification of a package. A programmable memory is coupled to the state machine, and stores transition parameters for each transition of the set of transitions, thus allowing the hardwired states and transitions to be programmable.