Patent ID: 7061929

Claim:
A data network comprising: a sending node; a receiving node coupled to receive a plurality of data information packets from the sending node; and at least a first and second transmission channel coupled to the sending and receiving nodes, wherein each data information packet transmitted across the network is selected for transmission on one of the first and second transmission channels according to predetermined criteria wherein the first and second transmission channels are, respectively, a low latency channel for transmitting data packets meeting a low latency criteria, and a high bandwidth channel for transmitting data packets meeting a high bandwidth criteria; a scheduler circuit for the high bandwidth channel coupled to the high bandwidth channel and low latency channel; and wherein the scheduler circuit is coupled to receive a request sent into the low latency channel, the request requesting permission to transmit a packet over the high bandwidth channel, the scheduler logic responsive to the request to provide a grant indication over the low latency channel indicating the request was granted; and wherein the grant indication is transferred with a higher priority across the low latency channel than other low latency traffic, wherein the grant indication includes a unique identifier corresponding to a number of an output port through which the grant indication was sent and wherein during node initialization, a node coupled to the output port listens to grant packets and uses the unique identifier as its node identifier in subsequent transactions over the data network.