A communication method and packet switching network in which self-routing packets are communicated via multipaths through the network while maintaining the sequence of the packets. The switching network has a plurality of stages and the stages are interconnected by inter-node links. Each inter-node link comprises a pair of sublinks thus establishing multipaths through the switching network in response to the self-routing packets. Each stage has a plurality of switch nodes. A switch node is responsive to packets received on one inter-node like destined for a second inter-node link to maintain the sequence of packets as they are communicated out on the second inter-node link. Each node comprises a plurality of input circuits each individually connected to one of the incoming sublinks and a plurality of output circuits each connected to one of the outgoing inter-node links. Each output circuit has an arbiter which properly sequences the packets onto the outgoing link in response to requests for communicating packets received from the input circuits.
展开▼
