Patent ID: 7304987

Claim:
In a packet communications switch fabric, a method for resynchronizing backplane link management credit counters, the method comprising: at an input port card ingress port, accepting information packets including cells and cell headers with destination information; routing information packets between the input port card and output port cards on backplane data links through an intervening crossbar; at the input port card, maintaining a credit counter for each output port card channel; decrementing the counter in response to transmitting cells from the input port card; generating credits in response to transmitting cells from an output port card channel; sending the generated credits to increment the counter; and, using the generated credit flow, resynchronizing the credit counter as follows: the input port card receiving a resynch command for a specified counter; initializing the specified counter; and, ceasing to increment the specified counter in response to receiving the generated credits, until a resynch acknowledgement is received from the output port card.