An expanded spanning-tree protocol for home-oriented network management

An expanded spanning-tree protocol capable to simultaneous configurations of plural logical spanning-trees is proposed. It configures a set of optimum spanning-trees and offers an optimal routing path to each packet. This protocol should be highly effective for minimizing the possible traffic increase caused by routing packets and for minimizing the transmission lag. Details of the operating algorithm of the bridge are described. Also proposed is a simplified version of this protocol, called the approximate protocol, which can be incorporated in a more compact form and is much easier to apply. The benefits of these proposed protocols are quantitatively evaluated in terms of the reduction of traffic and packet delay compared with the conventional protocol