Patent ID: 7707266

Claim:
A network device, comprising: a network processor including: a plurality of processing cores configured in a plurality of clusters; a plurality of targets, each of the targets comprising a sharable resource that is accessible to the plurality processing cores, the targets including a media switch fabric interface and a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express interface; a chassis interconnect comprising a plurality of sets of bus lines connected between the plurality of clusters and the plurality of targets forming a crossbar interconnect, the sets of bus lines corresponding to a command bus, a pull data bus for target writes, and a push data bus for target reads; and multiplexer circuitry for each of the command bus, pull data bus, and push data bus to selectively connect a given cluster to a given target to enable commands and data to be passed between the given cluster and the given target; a media switch fabric, including cross-over connections between a plurality of input/output (I/O) ports via which packets are received at and forwarded from, coupled to the media switch fabric interface; a two-stage bus arbiter for arbitrating each of the command bus, pull data bus, and push data bus and coupled to control the multiplexer circuitry; and a PCI Express board, coupled to the PCI Express interface.