Importance

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Abstract

A method and apparatus are disclosed for multicasting through a single physical port in a switch, i.e., logical multicasting. An incoming cell is logically multicast by providing a first copy of the cell to the desired output port and providing a second copy of the cell to a loop-back element which includes standard input and output ports dedicated to loop-back operation. The cell provided to the loop-back element is subsequently provided to the desired output port such that the first and second copies of the cell are serially transmitted from the single desired output port. Further, the cell provided to the loop-back element may be repeatedly copied, provided to the loop-back element, and provided to the desired output port. Thus, the incoming cell may be transmitted through a single output port as many times as is desired. When utilized in conjunction with a switch configured for unicast operation, multicast type capability can be provided in the unicasting switch by logically multicasting from the multicasting switch to the unicasting switch.

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First Claim