Patent ID: 7840136

Claim:
A switch, comprising: input ports configured to receive signals, wherein the signals include data; output ports configured to output the signals; switching elements, wherein a given switching element in the switching elements is coupled to a given input port in the input ports through a first optical signal path and is coupled to a given output port in the output ports through a second optical signal path; a flow-control mechanism configured to provide flow-control information associated with the data to the switching elements, wherein the flow-control mechanism is coupled to the switching elements through an electrical control path; wherein the electrical control path includes a first semiconductor die and a second semiconductor die, wherein proximity connectors proximate to a first surface of the first semiconductor die are coupled to proximity connectors proximate to a second surface of the second semiconductor die, and wherein the electrical control path is configured to use proximity communication to communicate the flow-control information; and wherein the switching elements are configured to selectively couple the input ports to the output ports based on the flow-control information.