Patent ID: 6947439

Claim:
In a switching system having a plurality of ports with each of the ports being coupled to a local area network via a Hub, the connectivity between the inputs and outputs of the plurality of ports forming first and second matrixes of cross points, each cross point in the first matrix establishing a unilateral communication path from a source port to a destination port, each cross point in the second matrix providing a complementary connection from the destination port to the source port, a method of establishing a transmission operation from a first Hub coupled to a first source port to a second Hub coupled to a first destination port, the method comprising the steps of: a) activating a first cross point in the second matrix to establish a first unilateral path from the first destination port to the first source port; b) detecting, via the first unilateral path connection from the first destination port to the first source port, whether the second Hub is idle; and c) generating a collision signal, at the first source port when the second Hub is not idle.