Patent ID: 6141346
Filing Date: 2000-10-31
Classification: G06F,H04J,H04L,H04Q,H04W,Y10S

Abstract:
A switch for receiving a data unit and for transmitting the data unit to a plurality of designated destinations, comprising:a plurality of input ports operative to receive the data unit in one of said plurality of input ports;a first shared data unit buffer memory collectively associated with said plurality of input ports for buffering the data unit received in said one of said plurality of input ports;a second shared data unit buffer memory for buffering copies of the data unit transmitted from said first shared data unit buffer memory to said second shared data unit buffer memory;a plurality of output ports collectively associated with said second shared data unit buffer memory, said output ports operative to transmit the copies of the data unit transmitted to the second shared data unit buffer memory to at least one of the plurality of designated destinations; anda tracking device operative to track receipt of the copies of the data unit by said second shared data unit buffer memory at different points in time,whereby the data unit received in said input port may be transmitted to said second shared data unit buffer memory at different points in time without executing redundant transmission to any given selected output port.