Patent ID: 6747972
Filing Date: 2004-06-08
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A packet switch comprising:a plurality of in-order delivery interconnection elements; a plurality of packet switch input interfaces coupled to the plurality of in-order delivery interconnection elements, each packet switch interface including a packet distributor to distribute packets in accordance with a packet distribution scheme across the plurality of in-order delivery interconnection elements and a packet switch sequencer to add a sequence number within a sequence number range to packets to be sent across the plurality of in-order delivery interconnection elements; and a plurality of packet switch output interfaces coupled to the plurality of in-order delivery interconnection elements, each packet switch output interface including a packet switch resequencer; wherein each of the in-order delivery interconnection elements comprise an in-order delivery interconnection network including a second set of sequence numbers; and wherein the plurality of in-order interconnection elements comprise n in-order delivery interconnection elements, and the packet distribution scheme includes sending packets to each of the interconnection elements m number of times in a distribution cycle for a particular packet switch output port, and the sequence number range includes at least mn different sequence numbers.