Patent ID: 7031325

Claim:
A network device configured to control communication of data frames between stations, comprising: a plurality of receive ports configured to receive data frames from the stations; a buffer configured to buffer the received data frames; queuing logic configured to: obtain a frame pointer for each of the received data frames, each frame pointer identifying a location in a memory located externally from the network device, and transfer each of the received data frames to the external memory for storage in a location identified by one of the respective frame pointers; a memory configured to store address information and data forwarding information associated with the received data frames; processing logic configured to: and identify data forwarding information for a first one of the received data frames, the data forwarding information identifying at least a first transmit port and a first virtual local area network (VLAN), generate a forwarding descriptor for the first data frame, the forwarding descriptor including: a first field identifying at least one transmit port, and a second field including information identifying whether the first data frame was at least one of untagged, VLAN-tagged or priority-tagged, generate a first code indicating that the first data frame is to be transmitted without modification, when the network device is operating in accordance with a first protocol, and generate a second code indicating that the first data frame is to be transmitted without a VLAN tag, the first data frame is to be transmitted with a VLAN tag or the first data frame is to be transmitted without modification, when the network device is operating in accordance with a second protocol and based on the contents of the first field and the second field; and a register configured to store information indicating whether the network device is operating in accordance with the first protocol.