Patent ID: 8711849

Claim:
A method of routing data packets, comprising; receiving a serial data stream with a set of cells, each cell including data and a header designating a respective destination port that the data is intended for, at a first input layer port of a first input layer circuit, said first input layer circuit being a part of an input layer comprising a plurality of input layer circuits, each input layer circuit comprising a sorting circuit and a plurality of queues, each queue corresponding to a destination port in a one to one correspondence; routing a first cell of said set of cells, said first cell having a header designating a first destination port, to a first queue of said first input layer circuit corresponding to said first destination port; routing said first cell from said first queue to a first intermediate layer circuit of an intermediate layer comprising a plurality of intermediate layer circuits, each intermediate layer circuit comprising a sorting circuit and a plurality of buffers, each buffer corresponding to a destination port in a one to one correspondence, assigning said first cell to a first buffer of said first intermediate layer circuit, said first buffer corresponding to said first destination port; and routing said first cell from said first buffer to a first output layer circuit of an output layer, said first output layer comprising said first destination port, said output layer comprising a plurality of output layer circuits, each output layer circuit comprising a destination port in a one to one correspondence.