Patent ID: 7187674

Claim:
A digital system comprising: N+1 modules, wherein N≧2; an interconnection fabric that provides unique connection paths between all pairs of modules of the N+1 modules; an adaptive switch provided in at least one of the N+1 modules, wherein the adaptive switch has at least one and less than N active connections to the unique connection paths that couple modules having adaptive switches to all other modules of the N+1 modules, and data is capable of flowing between the module that provides the adaptive switch and all other modules by routing data through other intermediate modules of the N+1 modules, wherein at least one of the N+1 modules includes a full (N+1)×(N+1) switch, and each module having an adaptive switch creates an active connection to the module having the full (N+1)×(N+1) switch, wherein the adaptive switch is a full 3×3 switch that fronts an adaptive 2-of-N switch, wherein the active connection to the module having the full (N+1)×(N+1) switch is a primary active connection, and a secondary active connection is present between the full 3×3 switch that fronts the adaptive 2-of-N switch and a module of the N+1 modules other than the module having the full (N+1)×(N+1) switch, and wherein the secondary active connection provides increased bandwidth by routing data between a pair of modules via the secondary active connection in addition to data routed to the module having the full (N+1)×(N+1) switch via the primary connection.