Patent ID: 7106738

Claim:
A switch for routing data packets between a plurality of switch inputs and a plurality of switch outputs, said switch comprising: a) a plurality of first level SPP mappers for determining a corresponding first level SPP for each data packet and attaching said determined first level SPP thereto; b) a plurality of first level packet formatters for queuing together data packets sharing a common corresponding first level SPP, creating first level train packets from the commonly-queued data packets, wherein each first level train packet comprises a payload and a header, wherein the payload of at least one first level train packet includes a plurality of commonly-queued data packets, and wherein the header of each first level train packet includes the common first level SPP corresponding to each data packet included in the payload of that first level train packet; c) a plurality of second level SPP mappers for determining a corresponding second level SPP for each first level train packet and attaching said determined second level SPP thereto; d) a plurality of second level packet formatters for queuing together first level train packets sharing a common corresponding second level SPP, creating second level train packets from the commonly-queued data packets, wherein each second level train packet comprises a payload and a header, wherein the payload of at least one second level train packet includes a plurality of commonly-queued first level train packets, and wherein the header of each second level train packet includes the common second level SPP corresponding to each first level train packet included in the payload of that second level train packet; e) a plurality of multiplexors, each multiplexor linking a plurality of first level packet formatters to a second level packet formatter; f) a switch fabric having a plurality of switch fabric inputs for receiving second level train packets from the second level packet formatters and a plurality of switch fabric outputs for outputting routed second level train packets, wherein the switch fabric is configured to route each received second level train packet to a switch fabric output according to the second level SPP included in the header of each second level train packet; g) a plurality of second level packet deformatters for receiving routed second level train packets outputted from the switch fabric, extracting first level train packets from the payloads of the received routed second level train packets, and outputting the extracted first level train packets; h) a plurality of first level packet deformatters for receiving extracted first level train packets outputted from the second level packet deformatters, extracting data packets from the payloads of the received extracted first level train packets, and outputting the extracted data packets; and i) a plurality of demultiplexors, each demultiplexor linking a second level packet deformatter with a plurality of first level packet deformatters.