Microcom Systems, Inc.

Douglas Wainer

Gary B Videlock

Russell C Gocht

Tom P Gloria

A multiport source routing token ring bridge is provided which permits a single local area network bridge to interconnect to multiple remote bridges without limitations on the number of rings and bridges interspersed between a data packet's source and its intended destination. The bridge receives a packet and then scans the packet for ring-in information which matches the ring to which the bridge is attached. If this match is not successful, then the packet is not passed to the software and the address recognize and frame copy bits at the end of the packet are not set. If the match is successful, then the bridge number and next ring-in (or ring-out) segment information from the packet are used as addresses to a static RAM array. The array is preprogrammed with all valid bridge number and ring-out combinations which may be accessed by the multiport source routing bridge. If addressing of the array produces a valid indication, then the packet is passed to software for forwarding to the appropriate local area network or wide area network ports. On the other hand, if the address does not produce an indication that it can be reached through the bridge, then the hardware parses the packet to extract the next ring and bridge information, and repeats the above process until either a complete match is found and the packet is passed, or the information field is exhausted and the packet is finally rejected.

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Roslindale, MA, United States of America

Douglas Wainer