Patent ID: 7366167

Claim:
A router for interconnecting N interfacing peripheral devices, said router comprising a plurality of routing nodes coupled to one another via switching circuitry, a first one of said plurality of routing nodes comprising: at least one physical medium device (PMD) module capable of transmitting data packets to and receiving data packets from selected ones of said N interfacing peripheral devices; an ingress processor capable of receiving incoming data packets from said at least one PMD module; an egress processor capable of transmitting data packets to said at least one PMD module; and a medium access control (MAC) processor capable of forwarding data packets from said ingress processor to said switching circuitry and forwarding data packets from said switching circuitry to said egress processor, wherein said MAC processor is capable of determining whether a first data packet received from said ingress processor is directed to said egress processor and, in response to said determination, transferring said first data packet directly to said egress processor without forwarding said first data packet through said switching circuitry, wherein said MAC processor determines that said first data packet is directed to said egress processor if said address of said first data packet matches an address of said MAC processor.