Communication device

A communication device simplified in circuit configuration and capable of shortening the time required to copy packets for broadcasting or multicasting. A packet separator separates an incoming packet into a data part and a header part, and a memory stores the data part. An internal packet generator attaches, to the header part, an internal header of a fixed length including the address of the stored data part, to generate an internal packet. A route searcher searches for a route for the internal packet based on the header part. Queues are associated with packet input/output ports, respectively, for temporarily storing the internal packet routed by the route searcher. A reader reads out the data part from the memory in accordance with the address included in the internal header of the internal packet. A packet generator generates an output packet from the data part and the header part of the internal packet.