Patent ID: 7680097

Claim:
A network switch having a hybrid switch architecture, comprising: at least two shared-memory switch fabrics, each shared-memory switch fabric being configured to store and retrieve packets; at least two crossbar switch fabrics, each crossbar switch fabric being coupled to each of the shared-memory switch fabrics and configured to distribute and re-collect packets to and from each of the shared-memory switch fabrics; a port controller coupled to each of the crossbar switch fabrics and configured to retrieve packets from at least one network port and to forward packets to the crossbar switch fabrics and configured to receive packets from the crossbar switch fabrics and to forward packets to a destination network component via the at least one network port; and a notify ring coupled to each port controller, the notify ring configured to transfer forwarding information to each port controller, and wherein the forwarding information is used to request packets from the shared-memory switch fabrics by one of the port controllers; wherein each shared-memory switch fabric is also configured to send a packet buffer number indicating where a packet is stored in a shared buffer memory, packets are requested from each of the shared-memory switch fabrics based on an availability of a channel, and wherein the port controller is configured to request packets in an order different from an order the packets were received by the crossbar switch fabrics.