Patent ID: 7508752

Claim:
A method for switching line cards in a network device, comprising: a first line card storing path status information in a data stream from the first line card; a second line card storing path status information in a data stream from the second line card; a switch matrix receiving the data streams from the first and second line cards, analyzing the path status information and previously received path status information in the data streams from both the first and second line cards, and identifying the data stream with a best path status; selecting one of the data streams from the first and second line cards based on the path status information in the data streams from the first and second line cards and previously received path status information in the data streams from the first and second line cards; wherein the data stream with the best path status is selected only if the data stream has had the best path status in two or more consecutive path status information in the data stream; determining if the selected data stream is different than a previously selected data stream; if the selected data stream is different than a previously selected data stream, switching to said selected data stream only if a switch control is set to enabled, wherein said switch control indicates whether switching between said first and second active line cards is permitted; and outputting the selected data stream from the switch matrix.