Patent ID: 7274696

Claim:
A router comprising: M packet input/output cards, M>1, each card having at least one backplane ingress port comprising N data signaling strands and at least one backplane egress port comprising N data signaling strands, N>1; a first backplane having at least M input/output card slots for receiving the packet-input/output cards and at least N switch-fabric card slots for receiving switch-fabric cards, the backplane connecting the nth signaling strand from each backplane ingress port and egress port to corresponding connectors at switch fabric card slot n; at least N switch-fabric cards inserted respectively in the switch-fabric-card slots, each card having a single-strand switch-fabric-card ingress port corresponding to each backplane ingress port and corresponding backplane connectors at switch fabric card slot n, a single-strand switch-fabric-card egress port corresponding to each backplane egress port and corresponding backplane connectors at switch fabric card slot n, and a switch fabric having a plurality of input ports connected respectively to the switch-fabric-card ingress ports, a plurality of output ports connected respectively to the switch-fabric-card egress ports, the switch fabric capable of simultaneously switching data from multiple input ports to multiple output ports; and a switch-fabric scheduler capable of configuring the switch fabric on each switch-fabric card such that all signaling strands from a given backplane ingress port are switched in parallel to a given backplane egress port.