Patent ID: 8718054

Claim:
A bridge-routing module to be incorporated into a closed network fabric, the bridge-routing module comprising: a plurality of interface circuits configured to be coupled to at least one of a switch module and another bridge-routing module via the closed network fabric; an ingress circuit coupled to receive packets from the closed network fabric via at least one of the plurality of interface circuits; an egress circuit coupled to transmit packets to the closed network fabric via at least one of the plurality of interface circuits; and memory configured to store information associating packet content types with packet routing parameters; and processing circuitry configured to: analyze a packet to identify a packet content type and to determine if the packet is a mission critical packet; when the packet is a mission critical packet and the packet is received from a packet source, add an indication to a header of the packet to identify the packet as a mission critical packet; determine a packet routing parameter of the packet routing parameters based, at least in part, on the packet content type; and control ingress or egress of the packet in accordance with the packet routing parameter.