Patent ID: 7310333

Claim:
A method for reconfiguring a switch element having a plurality of ingress devices operatively connected to ingress data lines, a plurality of egress devices operatively connected to egress data lines, and a plurality of center stage devices operatively interconnecting the ingress devices and the egress devices, the method comprising: establishing an initial configuration for a plurality of connections between the ingress data lines and the egress data lines; detecting a switching event that affects at least one of the plurality of connections; selecting a portion of the plurality of connections, including one or more connections across at least one of the center stage devices; and rearranging only the selected connections across at least one of the center stage devices in response to the switching event; wherein said establishing step establishes an initial configuration for a subset of connections that is a subset of a plurality of connections between the ingress data lines and the egress data lines, the step of establishing including: identifying the subset of connections to be initially configured including specifically leaving available at least one port of the center stage device in the initial configuration; executing a control algorithm to determine the initial configuration for the switch element including the subset of connections; and performing a post-processing step to complete the plurality of connections.