Modification to a reservation ring mechanism for controlling contention in a broadband ISDN fast packet switch suitable for use in a local area network

摘要

A switching network having a sorting network followed by a plurality of routing networks for routing packets from a plurality of inputs to a plurality of outputs in accordance with destination addresses specified by the packets includes a reservation ring mechanism for resolving conflicts among inputs contending for access to identical outputs. This reservation ring mechanism performs a sequence of step and compare operations in top-to-bottom ring-like order during one or more arbitration cycles for granting contending inputs access to the outputs for which those inputs are contending in top-to-bottom order. Each of the routing networks can route packets from any input to any output, so up to k packets are routed to each output during each arbitration cycle, where k equals the number of routing networks that are employed.