Patent ID: 7680126

Claim:
A method performed by a packet switching system, the method comprising: receiving, by the packet switching system, packet forwarding request information associated with a first set of input port/output port combinations; receiving, by the packet switching system, packet forwarding request information associated with a second set of input port/output port combinations different from the first set of input port/output port combinations, where the first set of input port/output port combinations and the second set of input port/output port combinations are selected to not conflict with each other; simultaneously scheduling at a first scheduler and a second scheduler of the packet switching system, respectively, packet forwarding for both the first set of input port/output port combinations at a first future time slot and the second set of input port/output port combinations at a second future time slot based on the received packet forwarding request information; and transferring reservation information for the first set of input port/output port combinations and the second set of input port/output port combinations to adjacent schedulers based on a module pattern, where the adjacent schedulers are responsible for scheduling additional sets of input port/output port combinations for the first and second future time slots, respectively.