Patent ID: 7142555

Claim:
A method for switching cells through a data switch comprising the steps of: receiving cells: directing the received calls into a plurality of virtual output queues by directing each cell to a particular virtual output queue according to the output destination of that cell; selecting a virtual output queue from which to route a cell to a switching element; selecting said switching element from a plurality of switching elements wherein the switching elements are non-buffered cross-bar switches; and routing a cell from the selected virtual output queue through the selected switching element to an output queue; wherein the step of selecting a switching element comprises the steps of: determining the number of pending switching requests for the selected virtual output queue received by each switching element; selecting the switching element that has the fewest number of pending switching requests if there is one switching element that has an overall lowest number of pending switching requests; and randomly selecting one switching element from among those switching elements that have the fewest number of pending switching requests if there are a plurality of switching elements that have the same fewest number of switching requests.