Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

Disclosed herewith is a multi-plane cell switch fabric system in which each switching unit functions asynchronously with others. The system executes distribution/restoration operations without lowering the switching capacity to reorder cells that arrive in random order from a plurality of switches just as they were in original flows and packets respectively with a small hardware capacity. In the system, the distribution unit divides each variable length packet addressed to the same destination into fixed length cells and sends those divided cells by a unit of integer multiple of the number of switches. On the other hand, the reordering unit, while holding cells that arrive in random order from each switching unit (switching units 1 to M) in a receive buffer, separates only the header information from each cell and holds the header information in a retry queue. The reordering unit, upon finding the header information of a head cell of a flow in an ordering check at the time of receiving or in a retry check in the retry queue, extracts the corresponding cell bodies from the receive buffer to restore the original order of those cells in the subject packet.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim