Patent ID: 8493976

Claim:
A multi-stage switch system, comprising a line card chassis (LCC) configured with multiple line cards (LCs), and a fabric card chassis (FCC) configured with a stage-2 switch element (S2), wherein the LCC communicates with the FCC, and the multi-stage switch system further comprising: a first switch combination and a second switch combination, wherein one of the first switch combination and the second switch combination is configured on the LCC, and the other one of the first switch combination and second switch combination is configured on the FCC, wherein multiple LCs establish cross communication through the first switch combination, the second switch combination and the S2, the first switch combination comprises a stage-1 switch element (S1) and a first buffer area, the second switch combination comprises a stage-3 switch element (S3) and a second buffer area, the S1 is connected to the second buffer area, and the S3 is connected to the first buffer area, and wherein when congestion occurs at the S2, the S2 is configured to generate flow control information and transmit the flow control information to the second switch combination, and when the second switch combination receives the flow control information, the second switch combination is configured to instruct the second buffer to store packets transmitted to the S2, and transmit the flow control information to the first switch combination to suspend sending of packets to the S2.