Bridge

In general, a bridge is a device that helps to determine which LAN data will be sent to. It carefully examines each message on the network, passing users located in the same LAN, while forwarding it to other LAN users that are interconnected. Node or computer addresses have no relationship to location in bridging networks. Because of this, messages are forwarded to each address on the network and only accepted by a node intended to receive it. A bridge has the ability to learn which addresses are on a particular network. It then creates a learning table so that all subsequent data can be transmitted to the appropriate network. In most cases, bridging networks consist of LANs because the broadcasting of every message to the many possible destinations would overflow a larger network with unnecessary data. This is why robust networks like the internet use a specific scheme that assigns addresses to nodes. By doing so, packets can be strictly forwarded in one general direction opposed to unintended locations of the network.