Patent ID: 8139579

Claim:
A method for processing unicast and multicast data, the method comprising: receiving user data; generating cell information based on the user data; extracting data from the generated cell information, the extracted data including output index information extracted from a header included in the generated cell information; identifying at least one output port number based on the output index information, where the identifying at least one output port comprises: searching a memory storing output port number information corresponding to output index information, identifying, for cell information that is to be unicast, a single output port number from the memory, and identifying, for cell information that is to be multicast, a plurality of output port numbers from the memory; controlling access to at least one buffer based on the at least one output port number; storing the generated cell information in the at least one buffer based on the identified at least one output port number; and forwarding the generated cell information from the at least one buffer in response to a switching signal.