Patent ID: 7185138

Claim:
A data routing terminal, comprising: a first data routing switch coupled to a first routing set of data input lines for communicating data packets from said first routing set of data input lines to said first data routing switch; a first data routing mux coupled to said first data routing switch for communicating data packets from said first data routing switch to said first data routing mux; a switch set of data output lines coupled to said first data routing switch for communicating data packets from said first data routing switch to said set of switch data output lines; a mux set of data input lines coupled to said first data routing mux for communicating data packets from said mux set of data input lines to said first data routing mux; a first routing set of data output lines coupled to said first data routing mux for communicating data packets from said first data routing mux to said first routing set of data output lines; said first data routing switch responsive to a first header of a first data packet received from said first routing set of data input lines to selectively route said first data packet to (1) said first data routing mux, (2) said switch set of data output lines, or (3) said first data routing mux and said switch set of data output lines dependent on said first header; said first data routing mux capable of multiplexing data packets received from said first data routing switch with data packets received from said mux set of data input lines onto said first routing set of data output lines.