Patent ID: 8254378

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a non-blocking minimal spanning switch comprising: (a) receiver circuitry configured to receive a plurality of data transmitted as a plurality of frames across a plurality of transmitting lanes, wherein said plurality of data comprises n data input signals; (b) a switch comprising m crossbar connections, wherein each of said n data input signals are input to each of said m crossbar connections, for a total of (m×n) switch input signals, wherein m=n, and wherein: each of said m crossbar connections comprises (m×n) framers, each of said (m×n) switch input signals are input to one of said (m×n) framers, and said (m×n) framers determine a start of frame signal in each of said (m×n) switch input signals, said start of frame signal indicating the starting bit of each of said plurality of frames; and (c) at least m multiplexers, wherein at least one of said m multiplexers is located within each of said m crossbar connections, whereby said m multiplexers selects data from one of said n data input signals and thereby outputs a single data output signal from each of said m crossbar connections, for a total of m switch output signals.