Patent ID: 7646782
Filing Date: 2010-01-12
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A networking apparatus comprising: a switching fabric including a plurality of ingress/egress points to switch routing paths of packets received through mediums coupled to the ingress/egress points; a first buffering structure, coupled to a first one of said ingress/egress points and a first one of said mediums, including a first First In First Out (FIFO) storage structure to stage a first plurality of egress packets, and packet diversion and insertion logic to enable post-switching pre-medium diversion and insertion of egress packets on the first one of said mediums; a second buffering structure, coupled to a second one of said ingress/egress points and a second one of said mediums, including a second FIFO storage structure to stage a second plurality of egress packets, and packet diversion and insertion logic to enable post-switching pre-medium diversion and insertion of egress packets on the second one of said mediums; and egress packet write drop logic, which, in response to an overflow condition of said first FIFO storage structure, while operating under first protocol, writes an End of Packet (EOP) at an offset from a Start of Packet (SOP) location of an egress packet to be dropped, to effectuate a tail flush of said first FIFO storage structure.