Patent ID: 7092392

Claim:
A packet routing apparatus for relaying a packet, received from one of a plurality of ports which the packet routing apparatus is connected to, to another port, the packet routing apparatus comprising: a first coupling mechanism; a plurality of routing units, connected to the first coupling mechanism, the routing units transmitting and receiving packets to/from each other via the first coupling mechanism; a plurality of second coupling mechanisms, each connected to one of the routing units; a plurality of port controllers, each connected to at least one port and one of the second coupling mechanisms, each port controller receiving a packet from one of the ports and transmitting the packet to the second coupling mechanism, and receiving a packet from the second coupling mechanism and transmitting the packet to one of the ports; at least one extended function processing unit, connected to one of the second coupling mechanisms, the extended function processing unit receiving the packet from the second coupling mechanism, executing a predetermined append function to the packet, and transmitting the packet to the second coupling mechanism; the plurality of routing units comprising a plurality of first routing units, which are connected to one of the second coupling mechanisms connected to one of the port controllers, and at least one second routing unit, which is connected to the second coupling mechanism connected to the extended function processing unit; and wherein, when the first routing units and the second routing units have received a packet from the second coupling mechanism, the first routing units and the second routing units transmit the packet to the first coupling mechanism with another of the first routing units or another of the second routing units as a destination; and, when the first routing units and the second routing units have received a packet from the first coupling mechanism, the first routing units and the second routing units transmit the packet to the second coupling mechanism.