Patent ID: 7164677

Claim:
A data switching system comprising: one or more I/O elements each comprising: a plurality of first input/output ports configured to receive and transmit data packets or cells to and from an external data network; one or more second input/output ports configured to receive and transmit data packets or cells; routing device configured to provide a first routing information indicating at least one data packet or cell to be transmitted from one or more of the second ports; and an arbiter configured to transmit a bitmap to the one or more I/O elements, where the bitmap comprises information for enabling or disabling the transmitting and/or receiving of data packets or cells by the one or more I/O elements; wherein each of the one or more I/O elements is configured to transfer data packets or cells between the first ports and the second ports and to transmit data packets or cells comprising corresponding first routing information from the second ports; a switching element having a plurality of third input/output ports configured to receive and transmit data packets or cells, the switching element comprising means for: receiving on a third port a data packet or cell as well as the corresponding first routing information; determining, on the basis of the first routing information, port information for the data packet or cell indicating which of the third ports is to transmit the data packet or cell; and transmitting the data packet or cell from the third ports indicated by the port information; wherein a second port of each of the one or more I/O elements is connected to a third port of the switching element.