Patent ID: 6597691
Filing Date: 2003-07-22
Classification: H04Q

Abstract:
A switch network, comprising:a plurality of switch chassis having a plurality of ports capable of functioning as input ports, destination ports or interconnect ports; data connections for connecting some of the ports of the chassis as interconnect ports between chassis, and other ports as input or destination ports for data to be transmitted through the switch network; each switch chassis having a space division switch capable of selectively interconnecting selected ones of its ports for data transfer; each switch chassis having a time division switch for selectively transmitting data frames or packets between selected ones of its ports; each of said ports having address decode logic operative in response to receipt of a frame of data at the port to decode an address portion of said frame; said ports operative in response to the address for a data frame for time division switching to transmit the frame on said time division switch to a destination port on the receiving chassis or to an interconnect port for a destination port on a chassis different from the receiving port chassis based on the destination address of the frame; said ports operative in response to a frame requesting a space division switch connection to transmit the frame on said time division switch to a destination port for the requested space division switch connection on the receiving chassis or to an interconnect port for a destination port on a chassis different from the receiving port chassis based on the request address of the frame; and said ports operative in response to the transmission of the space division switch request frame through the switch network to cause the space division switch of the receiving, destination and any interconnect chassis to establish a space connection between the receiving and destination ports for the transmission of data.