| 摘要 |
A hub (10) for a segmented virtual local area network with shared media access has at least one internal port (12) for receiving and transmitting digital data messages within the hub and may have at least one external port (18) for receiving and transmitting digital data messages external to the hub. The hub further includes a memory (42) for storing virtual local area network (VLAN) designations for internal and external ports, means (60) for associating VLAN designations with at least one internal port and storing such VLAN designations in the memory, and means (64) for associating the stored VLAN designations with messages transmitted from any of the ports to which the VLAN designation has been assigned. Additionally, the hub includes both means (66) for identifying VLAN designations associated with messages received by or within the hub and means (68) for transmitting to any of the internal ports only messages received within the hub and having associated with them a VLAN designation which matches the stored VLAN designation assigned to the port. The hub may also have the ability to store media access control (MAC) addresses associated with ports and only send a message to a port when the destination address of the message is known to be reachable through that port.
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