Single chip network hub with dynamic window filter

A single chip hub for an electrical data communications network, comprising:

• a packet memory for storing data packets;
• a processor for processing said packets;
• a plurality of media access control interfaces;
• a memory controller for transferring packets between the packet memory, the processor and the media control interfaces;
• and
• a dynamic address window filter for identifying the address of a packet being processed by examining only a predetermined portion of said address;
• the dynamic address window filter including means for determining said predetermined portion of said address for examination by determining a common address range of addresses of packets processed by the hub.

A hub, comprising:

• a processor for processing data packets;
• a packet attribute memory for storing attributes of said data packets;
• an attribute processor for performing a non-linear algorithm on an address of a packet being processed for accessing a corresponding attribute of said packet in the packet attribute memory;
• and
• a dynamic address window filter for identifying the address of said packet being processed by examining only a predetermined portion of said address.