Patent ID: 7430180

Claim:
A packet switching network comprising: a plurality of subscriber stations; at least one switch configured to connect said plurality of subscriber stations to each other; wherein each output port from each switch on the network satisfies the following relation: Σ i number of virtual links passing through an output buffer [ 1 + int ⁡ ( ( Jitter ⁢ ⁢ In ) i + max ⁢ ⁢ Latency BAGi ) ] * ( max ⁢ ⁢ frame ⁢ ⁢ duration ) ⁢ < _ ⁢ latency in which: the latency is a latency of each output port, the max latency value is a maximum residence time in the output buffer of the at least one switch, this value may be different for each switch in the network, BAGi is a minimum time between two consecutive frames belonging to a virtual link i, before they are transmitted, (Jitter In) i is a Jitter associated with the virtual link i that represents a time interval between a theoretical instant at which a frame is transmitted, and its effective transmission that may be before or after the theoretical instant, and (max frame duration) is a duration of a longest frame on the virtual link i.