Circuits and methods for a ring network

A ring switch for a ring network, the ring switch comprising:

• at least one ring port that is coupleable to transport data packets in a ring network;
• at least one local port that is coupleable to at least one local area network or device;
• at least one address table that tracks the addresses of network devices, not including ring switches, associated with each port of the ring switch based on source addresses of data packets received at the at least one ring port and the at least one local port of the ring switch;
• and
• wherein data packets received at the at least one ring port that are not destined for a network device associated with any of the at least one local ports of the ring switch are switched to another ring switch coupled to the at least one ring port based on the at least one address table without the use of a token or encapsulating the packet.

A ring switch for a ring network, the ring switch comprising:

• a bi-directional ring port that is coupleable to receive data packets from and transmit data packets over a ring of ring switches;
• at least one local port that is coupleable to at least one local area network;
• at least one address table that is configurable to self learn and store the addresses of network devices, not including ring switches associated with the at least one bi-directional ring port and the at least one local port based on source addresses from data packets processed by the ring switch;
• wherein the ring switch allows data packets received at the ring port to be retransmitted out the ring port of the switch so that data packets can be forwarded on to other ring switches in the ring network based on the at least one address table without the use of a token or encapsulating the packet;
• and
• a circuit associated with the bi-directional ring port that removes incoming data packets that have a source address that corresponds to a network device associated with the at least one local port of the switch.

A ring switch for a ring network, the ring switch comprising:

• a ring-in port that is coupleable to receive data packets from the ring network;
• a ring-out port that is coupleable to provide data packets to the ring network;
• at least one local port that is coupleable to a local area network;
• at least one address table to track the addresses of network devices, not including ring switches, associated with the ports of the ring switch;
• and
• wherein the address table associates the addresses of network devices with the ring-out port when data packets are received at the ring-in port without the use of a token or encapsulating the packet.

A method for processing data packets in a ring network, the method comprising:

• receiving a data packet at a ring port of a ring switch of the ring network;
• reading a source address from the data packet;
• comparing the source address with at least one address table of the ring switch, wherein the at least one address table indicates which addresses are associated with each port of the switch;
• when the source address corresponds to a network device that is associated with a local port of the ring switch, discarding the data packet;
• and
• when the source address is not in the address table, associating the source address with the ring port in the address table without the use of a token or encapsulating the packet.

A method for processing data packets in a ring switch of a ring network, the method comprising:

• receiving a data packet at a bi-directional ring port of the ring switch;
• reading the source address of the data packet;
• when the source address is not in an address table for a port of the ring switch, storing the source address in at least one address table with an indication that the address is for a network device, not including a ring switch, associated with the ring port;
• reading a destination address from the data packet;
• when the destination address for the data packet is in an address table for the ring switch, switching the data packet to the port of the ring switch that is associated with the destination address, even if the data packet was received at the ring port and the destination address is associated with the ring port without using a token or encapsulating the data packet;
• when the destination address for the data packet is not in an address table for the ring switch or the data packet is a broadcast data packet, broadcasting the data packet to all ports of the ring switch;
• and
• when the destination address for the data packet is a multicast address, broadcasting the data packet to all appropriate ports of the ring switch.

A method for processing data packets in a ring switch of a ring network, the method comprising:

• receiving a data packet at a ring-in port of the ring switch;
• reading the source address of the ring packet;
• when the source address is not in an address table for a port of the ring switch, storing the source address in the address table with an indication that the address is for a network device, not including a ring switch, associated with a ring-out port of the ring switch;
• reading a destination address from the data packet;
• when the destination address for the data packet is in an address table for the ring switch, switching the data packet to the port of the ring switch that is associated with the destination address;
• when the destination address for the data packet is not in an address table for the ring switch or the data packet is a broadcast data packet, broadcasting the data packet;
• and
• when the destination address for the data packet is a multicast address, broadcasting the data packet to all appropriate ports of the ring switch.