Patent ID: 8116206
Filing Date: 2012-02-14
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for routing frames, comprising: receiving a frame at a receive port segment of a port for a switch element having a plurality of ports, for transmission to a destination port located at a different switch element having a plurality of ports; generating a tag based on information included in the frame, wherein the tag identifies a location where the frame is stored at the receive port segment; and wherein the tag includes a special character to distinguish the tag from the frame, a type field to differentiate between a tag sent from the receive port to the destination port and a request for the frame from the destination port; and a field that identifies an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) from where the tag was generated; transmitting the tag to the destination port for the frame with the type field of the tag indicative of a tag sent from the receive port; generating a request for the frame, wherein the destination port generates the request for the frame such that the destination port controls which ports are able to send frames to the destination port, thereby preventing multiple receive ports from trying to send frames to the destination port at the same time, and the request includes the type field identifying the request for the frame from the destination port; transmitting the generated request for the frame to the port that received the frame; and transmitting the frame stored at the receive port segment to the destination port, in response to the generated request sent by the destination port; wherein an arbitration module in a transmit port segment of the port that received the frame selects a tag for processing.