Circuits and methods for a ring network

摘要

A ring switch for a ring network is provided. The ring switch includes at least one ring port that is coupleable to transport data packets in a ring network. Further, the ring switch includes at least one local port that is coupleable to at least one local area network. The ring switch also includes at least one address table that tracks the addresses of network devices associated with each port of the ring switch based on source addresses of data packets received at the ports of the ring switch. 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.