A repeater device for forwarding a data packet from a first Ethernet collision domain to a second Ethernet collision domain has a plurality of ports, each port for connection to an independent Ethernet collision domain, each port has an associated receive buffer and an associated transmit buffer, and...http://www.google.co.uk/patents/US6097705?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6097705 - Buffered repeater with independent ethernet collision domains
