Patent ID: 8848533

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving source signals; segmenting packets from the source signals; buffering the packets; scheduling and distributing the packets to a plurality of fabric units in a deterministic and proportional manner; performing the scheduling based on a calendar comprising calendar slots and a calendar period of effective length n, n being an integer; and performing the distributing based on a fabric path distribution list of length m, m being an integer; wherein the deterministic and proportional manner comprises each calendar slot of the calendar associating with each distribution list entry of the fabric path distribution list once every m calendar periods; and wherein the deterministic and proportional manner utilizes at least one of i) n and m being relatively prime therebetween and ii) the scheduling and distributing step skipping at least an entry in the fabric path distribution list every calendar period of the calendar making an idle slot thereby causing n and m effectively to be relatively prime therebetween.