Patent ID: 6128294
Filing Date: 2000-10-03
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A network connecting apparatus comprising:a plurality of ports for connecting a plurality of networks;a plurality of port control units for sending and receiving packets to and from said plurality of ports;a switch control unit including a destination port discriminating unit and a destination port appointing unit and connected bidirectionally and separately to each of said plurality of port control units, said destination port discriminating unit discriminating the destination of a packet received from any one of said plurality of port control units, said destination port appointing unit receiving a packet from said destination port discriminating unit and appointing the port through which to send the received packet;an address managing table for retaining the addresses of the hosts on the networks connected to said plurality of ports, said addresses being arranged for retrieval by said switch control unit;a managing unit for controlling the apparatus as a whole and updating said address managing table; andan address resolution control unit capable of reading said address managing table, receiving an ARP request packet from said destination port appointing unit, receiving an ARP reply packet from said managing unit, and sending packets to said destination port appointing unit;wherein the address information about the host of any one of the networks connected to said plurality of ports is not given to any other host.