Patent ID: 7830872

Claim:
A signal processing device adapted to perform signal processing according to an input data packet, the device comprising: one or more switching modules each adapted for signal processing, each switching module having a routing table listing an input source of a data packet and an output destination where next processing is to be performed, and adapted to output the data packet input from the input source to the output destination for execution of processing, thereby controlling an order of signal processing; at least one processing module adapted to be an input source and an output destination listed in the routing table, and adapted to execute signal processing indicated by a data packet transmitted from one of the switching modules to said at least one processing module; and a plurality of sets of input/output buffers each set being connected to a corresponding switching module and adapted to buffer data packets, each input buffer adapted to buffer data packets which are input to the corresponding switching module from an input source listed in the routing table, and each output buffer adapted to buffer data packets to be output to an output destination listed in the routing table of the corresponding switching module, wherein said signal processing device is constituted by combining said switching modules with said at least one processing module through the corresponding set of said input/output buffers, at least one of said switching modules being connected to the outside of said signal processing device through the corresponding input/output buffer, each routing table indicating a signal processing load in the switching module corresponding to that routing table, wherein each switching module is adapted to execute routing processing of data packets input from the outside of said signal processing device, from said processing module or from a different switching module through a corresponding input buffer and outputting the data packet to an output destination based on the routing table corresponding to signal processing indicated by the data packet through a corresponding output buffer, wherein each processing module is adapted to execute processing indicated by a data packet transmitted from one of the switching modules through a corresponding output buffer with respect to the data packet, and to transmit the data packet to the one switching module through the input buffer associated with the corresponding output buffer, and wherein said different switching module is adapted to execute routing processing with respect to a data packet transmitted from a switching module through a corresponding output buffer by using a routing table for said different switching module corresponding to signal processing indicated by the data packet, and to transmit the data packet to said switching module through an input buffer which forms a set with the corresponding output buffer.