Patent ID: 7813364

Claim:
A cross-bar switch comprising: a set of input ports to receive data packets from a communications link for a plurality of priority levels; a set of sink ports coupled to said set of input ports to receive said data packets from said set of input ports, wherein each sink port in said set of sink ports includes: (i) a ring interface coupled to said set of data rings to receive data from said data packets, (ii) a storage buffer coupled to said ring interface to receive and store said data; and (iii) an output port coupled to said storage buffer to receive said data from said storage buffer and transmit said data on a communications link; and a set of data rings coupling each sink port in said set of sink ports to each input port in said set of input ports, wherein said first sink port snoops each of said data packets to determine whether said each of said data packets contains a destination address supported by said first sink port.