Patent ID: 7613173

Claim:
A node, comprising: a plurality of line card modules to receive and forward data; and a plurality of local interconnect modules to receive the data from the line card modules and provide the data to the line card modules, each one of the local interconnect modules connecting to a corresponding one of the line card modules, each one of the local interconnect modules including a plurality of local interconnect boards, each one of the plurality line card modules including a connection to each of the plurality of local interconnect boards, where at least some of the plurality of local interconnect boards comprise: a high-priority quality-of service queue to report a status of a first line card module associated with the high-priority quality-of service queue and to report an availability of the first line card module for high-priority traffic; and a low-priority quality-of service queue to report a status of a second line card module associated with the low-priority quality-of service queue and to report an availability of the second line card module for low-priority traffic.