Patent ID: 6501761
Filing Date: 2002-12-31
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A modular network switch (10) for routing data transmissions between a plurality of network stations (12), each network station having a unique network address, each data transmission including a source network address of a source network station sending the data transmission and a destination network address of a destination station to receive the data transmission, the network switch comprising:a bus (15); a plurality of switch modules (11), each switch module having a plurality of I/O ports (P0-P15), each for communicating with a corresponding one of said network stations, and all switch modules being interconnected by said bus to form a network (17) through which each switch module receives data transmissions from a preceding module of said network and sends data transmissions to a next module of said network, wherein each I/O port is assigned a unique port ID, wherein each switch module maintains a lookup table mapping the network address of each said network station to a port ID of one of said I/O ports with which it communicates, wherein each said switch module updates its lookup table mapping when it receives a data transmission from a network station having an network source address that said lookup table does not yet map to a port ID, and wherein each said switch modules sends a mapping instruction to others of said switch modules via said bus whenever it updates its lookup table mapping, the mapping instruction indicating a manner in which it updated its lookup table mapping.