Patent ID: 7519060
Filing Date: 2009-04-14
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: determining in a switch an indication of transfer grant for an inbound packet by translating a packet attribute of the packet; issuing in said switch a packet relay request with the indication of transfer grant to provide packet attribute information in advance of the packet attribute; in response to the indication of transfer grant, asserting at the destination port in said switch a grant signal to transfer the inbound packet; asserting at the destination port an early packet end signal for the inbound packet based on the word grant indication; providing in said switch a word grant indication based on the packet attribute in the indication of transfer grant; issuing in said switch with the packet relay request the word grant indication and a start packet signal for the inbound packet; comparing at the destination port the word grant indication with a count indicative of the packet attribute; decrementing in said switch the count until the count equals the word count indication to assert a next grant signal for a next inbound packet and to issue for the inbound packet the early packet end signal and a grant deassert signal for the inbound packet; and providing from the destination port a last grant signal for the inbound packet.