Patent ID: 7912068

Claim:
A scheduler for a switch, wherein the switch is configured to couple input ports to output ports, wherein the scheduler is configured to: determine a schedule for a group of requests, associated with multiple data streams, that are received for the output ports of the switch, wherein the schedule includes a set of waves that each match each input port of the switch to a corresponding output port of the switch for a given data cell time, each wave comprising a set of switching elements configured to service a request to forward data from a corresponding input port in the wave to a corresponding output port, and wherein the schedule is determined using an arbitration technique during a time interval; receive an additional request while determining a current wave for the schedule, wherein the additional request was not included in the group of requests, wherein the additional request requests an input port that has been matched to an output port in a wave that precedes the current wave, and wherein the additional request was received at a time that precedes a current time by less than the time interval; and assign the additional request to a portion of the switch which is available in the schedule, thereby reducing a latency of the scheduler.