A web handling system is described, including a plurality of web handling controllers and a web handling process logic controller networked to form a ring network. A processor of the web handling process logic controller being configured to determine whether a fault exists within the ring network, and responsive to determining that a fault exists within the ring network, to generate and send signals throughout the ring network to switch the configuration of the ring network to at least one linear network.

At this time, a communication line load transmission interval deciding unit selects a transmission interval from the load of the bus. An instrument load transmission interval deciding unit selects a transmission interval from the processing loads of at least one of the vehicle on-board instrument and the gateway. A delivery control unit compares the transmission interval selected by the communication line load transmission interval deciding unit with the transmission interval selected by the instrument load transmission interval deciding unit, and performs control so that the divided updating data is delivered at transmission intervals which are equal to or greater than the longer of these transmission intervals.

At this time, a communication line load transmission interval deciding unit selects a transmission interval from the load of the bus. An instrument load transmission interval deciding unit selects a transmission interval from the processing loads of at least one of the vehicle on-board instrument and the gateway. A delivery control unit compares the transmission interval selected by the communication line load transmission interval deciding unit with the transmission interval selected by the instrument load transmission interval deciding unit, and performs control so that the divided updating data is delivered at transmission intervals which are equal to or greater than the longer of these transmission intervals.

An object is to provide a route switching method, a transfer device, and communication system that can continue communication even during route switching work. In a route switching method according to the present invention, in bypass transfer that transfers a packet while bypassing a non-transferable route, the transfer device having detected the non-transferable route attaches a bypass packet flag to the packet that passes through a non-transferable route and specifies the packet as a bypass packet, the transfer device having detected the non-transferable route returns the bypass packet and transfers the bypass packet in a direction opposite to that of the packet in the ring network, and the transfer device for which the blocked port is set in the ring network transfers the bypass packet through the blocked port before the route switching work.

In accordance with embodiments disclosed herein, there are provided methods, systems, mechanisms, techniques, and apparatuses for traffic aggregation on multiple WAN backhauls and multiple distinct LAN networks; for traffic load balancing on multiple WAN backhauls and multiple distinct LAN networks; and for performing self-healing operations utilizing multiple WAN backhauls serving multiple distinct LAN networks. For example, in one embodiment, a first Local Area Network (LAN) access device is to establish a first LAN; a second LAN access device is to establish a second LAN; a first Wide Area Network (WAN) backhaul connection is to provide the first LAN access device with WAN connectivity; a second WAN backhaul connection to provide the second LAN access device with WAN connectivity; a management device is communicatively interfaced with each of the first LAN access device, the second LAN access device, the first WAN backhaul connection, and the second WAN backhaul connection; and the management device routes a first portion of traffic originating from the first LAN over the first WAN backhaul connection and routes a second portion of the traffic originating from the first LAN over the second WAN backhaul connection.

A system and method is provided for sending congestion notification messages through L3 networks. For example, a data packet is received at a first switch in a first fabric block of an L3 network, and the first switch performs source MAC tagging of the data packet. The data packet is then forwarded to a second switch in a second fabric block of the L3 network, and the source MAC tag is maintained by the second switch and any intermediate switches. The second switch determines, in response to receiving the data packet, whether it is congested, and generates a notification message if it is congested. The notification message is L2 forwarded to the first fabric block, and further forwarded from the first switch to a source of the data packet using ACL matching.

An apparatus is provided that includes n communication channels, and m communication media interfaces, and v virtual lanes. V is a positive integer multiple of the least common multiple of m and n. An information stream is transferred into data and alignment blocks striped across all of the v virtual lanes, the blocks being communicated from the virtual lanes onto the communication channels. The blocks are received on the communication channels. Each of the communication channels transmits a different portion of the blocks striped across all of the v virtual lanes. In more particular embodiments, v>=n>=m. The communication media interfaces can be electrical and optical. Each of the communication channels can include a SerDes interface operating at least 5 Gigabits per second. Furthermore, each of the m communication media interfaces is configured to transmit a different stream of information over a single optical fiber.

In accordance with an embodiment, a network device includes a network controller and at least one network interface coupled to the network controller that includes at least one media access control (MAC) device configured to be coupled to at least one physical layer interface (PHY). The network controller may be configured to determine a network path comprising the at least one network interface that has a lowest power consumption and minimum security attributes of available media types coupled to the at least one PHY.

A Storage Area Network (SAN) access includes a first aggregated switch device that is coupled to a host device, a Local Area Network (LAN), and a SAN, and a second aggregated switch device that is coupled to the host device, the LAN, and the SAN. The second aggregated switch device is connected to the first aggregated switch device via an Inter-Chassis Link (ICL). The second aggregated switch device detect that the ICL has become unavailable and, in response, prevents Internet Protocol traffic between the host device and the LAN while transmitting storage traffic between the host device and the SAN.

A switch receiving Ethernet packets is disclosed, including TCP packets and/or non-TCP packets. The Ethernet packets are forwarded to at least two ports by forwarding each TCP Present application relates to a switch receiving Ethernet packets, including TCP packets and/or non-TCP packets, and forwarding the Ethernet packets to at least two ports by forwarding each of the TCP packets to any one of the at least two ports and forwarding each stream of non-TCP packets to one corresponding port of the at least two ports.