1. For use with a first local area network having a first local area Ethernet switch and a second local area network having a second local area Ethernet switch, an Ethernet wide area network, comprising:
a first network Ethernet switch having a first network interface and a first service interface, the first service interface to communicate with the first local area Ethernet switch;
a second network Ethernet switch having a second network interface and a second service interface, the second service interface to communicate with the second local area Ethernet switch; and
a root node network Ethernet switch having a third network interface to communicate with the first network interface of the first network Ethernet switch and a fourth network interface to communicate with the second network interface of the second network Ethernet switch, the first, second, third and fourth network interfaces to route packets from the first local area Ethernet switch to the second local area Ethernet switch without recognizing subscriber local area network medium access control addresses associated with either the first or second local area Ethernet switches.
2. The Ethernet wide area network of claim 1, wherein a first set of the subscriber local area network medium access control addresses are recognized at the first service interface and a second set of the subscriber local area network medium access control addresses are recognized at the second service interface.
3. The Ethernet wide area network of claim 1, wherein a translation table associated with the root node network Ethernet switch does not include any of the subscriber local area network medium access control addresses.
4. The Ethernet wide area network of claim 1, wherein the first service interface includes a translation table to translate a first one of the subscriber local area network medium access control addresses associated with a packet received from the first local area Ethernet switch to an ingress medium access control address associated with the first network Ethernet switch.
5. The Ethernet wide area network of claim 4, further comprising replacing a second one of the subscriber local area network medium access control addresses associated with the received packet with an egress medium access control address associated with the second network Ethernet switch.
6. The Ethernet wide area network of claim 5, further comprising translating the egress medium access control address to a destination medium access control address associated with the second local area Ethernet switch.
7. The Ethernet wide area network of claim 1, wherein the root node network Ethernet switch further comprises control software to adjust a transmission delay based on a maximum bridge diameter.
8. The Ethernet wide area network of claim 7, wherein the control software is to discover the maximum bridge diameter.
9. For use with a first local area network having a first local area Ethernet switch and a second local area network having a second local area Ethernet switch, an Ethernet wide area network, comprising:
a first network Ethernet switch having a first network interface and a first service interface, the first service interface to communicate with the first local area Ethernet switch;
a second network Ethernet switch having a second network interface and a second service interface, the second service interface to communicate with the second local area Ethernet switch; and
a root node network Ethernet switch having a third network interface to communicate with the first network interface of the first network Ethernet switch and a fourth network interface to communicate with the second network interface of the second network Ethernet switch, a spanning tree associated with the first network Ethernet switch, the second network Ethernet switch and the root node network Ethernet switch including medium access control addresses for the first, second, third and fourth service interfaces, but not including medium access control addresses of either of the first or second local area Ethernet switches.
10. The Ethernet wide area network of claim 9, wherein a first set of the medium access control addresses of the first and second local area Ethernet switches are recognized at the first service interface and a second set of the medium access control addresses of the first and second local area Ethernet switches are recognized at the second service interface.
11. The Ethernet wide area network of claim 9, wherein a translation table associated with the root node network Ethernet switch does not include any of the medium access control addresses of the first and second local area Ethernet switches.
12. The Ethernet wide area network of claim 9, wherein the first service interface includes a translation table to translate a first one of the medium access control addresses of the first and second local area Ethernet switches associated with a packet received from the first local area Ethernet switch to an ingress medium access control address associated with the first network Ethernet switch.
13. The Ethernet wide area network of claim 12, further comprising replacing a second one of the medium access control addresses of the first and second local area Ethernet switches associated with the received packet with an egress medium access control address associated with the second network Ethernet switch.
14. The Ethernet wide area network of claim 13, further comprising translating the egress medium access control address to a destination medium access control address associated with the second local area Ethernet switch.
15. The Ethernet wide area network of claim 9, wherein the root node network Ethernet switch further comprises control software to adjust a transmission delay based on a maximum bridge diameter.
16. The Ethernet wide area network of claim 15, wherein the control software is to discover the maximum bridge diameter.
17. An Ethernet network, comprising:
a first local Ethernet network having a first plurality of hubs;
a second local area Ethernet network having a second plurality of hubs; and
a wide area Ethernet network communicatively coupling the first and second local area Ethernet networks, the wide area Ethernet network having a third plurality of hubs, a sum of the first, second and third plurality of hubs exceeding seven, wherein the first, second and third plurality of hubs send topology updates via broadcast protocol data unit packets.
18. The Ethernet network of claim 17, wherein a spanning tree associated with the wide area Ethernet network does not include medium access control addresses of either of the first or second local area Ethernet networks.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An image-information recording device, comprising:
image-data identifying means for identifying image data based on predetermined image data units and an image data unit group including the image data units;
image-information obtaining means for obtaining image information regarding the image data from the identified image data; and
image-information recoding means for recording, as image information data, the obtained image information onto a storage medium,
wherein the image information data is managed for each data unit on the storage medium.
2. An image-information recording device, comprising:
image-data identifying means for identifying image data based on predetermined image data units and an image data unit group including the image data units;
image-information obtaining means for obtaining image information regarding the image data from the identified image data; and
image-information recoding means for recording, as an image-information file group, the obtained image information onto a storage medium,
wherein the image-information file group is managed for each data unit on the storage medium.
3. The image-information recording device according to claim 2, further comprising:
an image information memory for holding image information; and
image-information storing means for storing the obtained image information in the image information memory,
wherein the image-information recording means records the image information, stored in the image information memory, in the image-information file group on the storage medium.
4. The image-information recording device according to claim 2, wherein the image-information file group includes a representative image file that holds predetermined representative images of the image data.
5. The image-information recording device according to claim 4, wherein each representative image is first complete image data of each image data unit.
6. The image-information recording device according to claim 4, wherein each representative image is an I picture in a front-end VOBU of each image data unit.
7. An image-information display device, comprising:
attribute obtaining means for obtaining, with respect to image data identified with predetermined image data units and an image data unit group including the image data units, attributes of image information for the image data from image information data in which the image information is recorded on a storage medium for each image data unit;
condition inputting means for prompting input of a search condition regarding an attribute of the image information and receiving the input;
condition searching means for searching the attributes of the image information in accordance with the input search condition;
representative-image obtaining means for obtaining representative images of the image data for the respective image data units from the image information data in accordance with a result of the searching performed by the condition searching means; and
displaying means for displaying a list of the obtained representative images for the respective image data units.
8. An image-information display device, comprising:
attribute obtaining means for obtaining, with respect to image data identified with predetermined image data units and an image data unit group including the image data units, attributes of image information for the image data from image information data in which the image information is recorded on a storage medium for each image data unit;
condition inputting means for prompting input of a search condition regarding an attribute of the image information and receiving the input;
condition searching means for searching the attributes of the image information in accordance with the input search condition;
representative-image obtaining means for obtaining representative images of the image data for the respective image data units from the image information file group in accordance with a result of the searching performed by the condition searching means; and
displaying means for displaying a list of the obtained representative images for the respective image data units.
9. The image-information display device according to claim 8, further comprising:
an image information memory for holding image information,
wherein the attribute obtaining means holds the obtained attributes in the image information memory;
the condition searching means searches the attributes held in the image information memory in accordance with the input search condition;
the representative-image obtaining means holds the obtained representative images in the image information memory; and
the displaying means displays a list of the representative images held in the image information memory.
10. The image information display device according to claim 8, further comprising:
link-information extracting means for extracting link information indicating relationships between the representative images and the image data from the image-information file group;
image selecting means for receiving an input of a selected representative image of the displayed representative image list; and
image reproducing means for identifying the image data associated with the selected representative image based on the link information and reproducing the image data.
11. An image-information recording method for an image-information recording device including an image information memory for holding image information for image data and means for recording, as an image-information file group, the image information onto a storage medium, the recording method comprising:
a step of identifying image data based on predetermined image data units and an image data unit group including the image data units;
a step of obtaining image information regarding the image data from the identified image data of the image data unit;
a step of storing the obtained image information in the image information memory; and
a step of recording, as an image information file group, image information in the image information stored in the image information memory onto the storage medium for each image data unit.
12. An image-information displaying method for an image-information display device including an image information memory for holding image information, the method comprising:
a step of obtaining, with respect to image data identified with predetermined image data units and an image data unit group including the image data units, attributes of image information for the image data from an image-information file group in which the image information is recorded on a storage medium for each image data unit and of holding the attributes in the image information memory;
a step of prompting input of a search condition regarding an attribute of the image information and receiving the input;
a step of searching the attributes held in the image information memory in accordance with the input search condition;
a step of obtaining representative images of the image data for the respective image data units from the image-information file group in accordance with a result of the searching and of holding the representative images in the image information memory; and
a step of displaying a list of the representative images for the respective image data units, the representative images being held in the image information memory.
13. A program for an image-information recording device including an image information memory for holding image information for image data and means for recording, as an image-information file group, the image information onto a storage medium, the program causing a computer to execute:
a step of identifying image data based on predetermined image data units and an image data unit group including the image data units;
a step of obtaining image information regarding the image data from the identified image data of the image data unit;
a step of storing the obtained image information in the image information memory; and
a step of recording, as an image information file group, image information in the image information stored in the image information memory onto the storage medium for each image data unit.
14. A program for an image-information display device including an image information memory for holding image information, the program causing a computer to execute:
a step of obtaining, with respect to image data identified with predetermined image data units and an image data unit group including the image data units, attributes of image information for the image data from an image-information file group in which the image information is recorded on a storage medium for each image data unit and of holding the attributes in the image information memory;
a step of prompting input of a search condition regarding an attribute of the image information and receiving the input;
a step of searching the attributes held in the image information memory in accordance with the input search condition;
a step of obtaining representative images of the image data for the respective image data units from the image-information file group in accordance with a result of the searching and of holding the representative images in the image information memory; and
a step of displaying a list of the representative images for the respective image data units, the representative images being held in the image information memory.