Patent ID: 7065095
Filing Date: 2006-06-20
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A ring network for transporting data packets between network devices, the ring network comprising: a number of ring switches, each ring switch having at least one ring port, at least one local port and at least one table that self learns which network devices are associated with each port of the ring switch based on a selected source identifier from the packets processed by the ring switch; the at least one ring port of each ring switch being coupled to a ring port of another ring switch in the ring network; wherein the ring switch switches data packets between its ring and local ports to direct the data packets to specified network devices associated with the at least one local port of the ring switches in the ring network; and wherein the ports of the ring switches are configured such that data packets received at the at least one ring port and the at least one local port that are not destined for a network device associated with the at least one local port of the ring switch are switched to another ring switch on the ring network based on the at least one table.