Patent ID: 6463063
Filing Date: 2002-10-08
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A switch for switching fixed size ATM cells and variable length packets of a network comprising:an input port mechanism having a plurality of input ports each able to receive cells and packets from the network, the input port mechanism forming the cells and packets into stripes of fragments of the cells and packets using RAID techniques; an output port mechanism having a plurality of output ports each able to send cells and packets to the network, the converting mechanism forming the cells and packets from the stripes using RAID techniques; a plurality of switching fabrics connected to the input port mechanism and the output port mechanism for switching either stripes of packets or stripes of cells from the input port mechanism to the output port mechanism; and a mechanism for converting packets to cells when the input port is a packet port and the output port is a cell port and cells to packets when the input port is a cell port and the output port is a packet port, respectively, or not converting cells or packets when the input port and the output port are both cell ports or both packet ports, respectively, the converting mechanism forming the cells and packets from the stripes using RAID techniques, the converting mechanism is connected to the output port mechanism and the switching fabric.