Video router

Abstract

Video routers with integrated control layers. The video routers include line cards and fabric cards coupled to a controller communication network. The line cards and fabric cards include crosspoint switches and card controllers. Each card controller controls the operation of the corresponding crosspoint switches. Each crosspoint switch includes a plurality of switch input terminals and switch output terminals coupled to a backplane, providing signal communication paths between the line and fabric cards. The configuration of at least some of the crosspoint switches may be controlled by the controller on the same card and on other cards. The video router may include a switch configuration table to track the coupling of input and output terminals through each of the cross-point switches. Each of the controllers can access the configuration table. The configuration table may be recorded in a central location or may be distributed across multiple locations or both. Some of the locations may be in some of the controllers. The video routers include one or more supervisors which may provide routes to the controllers in response to routing requests to allow particular data streams to be routed from a particular input port to a particular output port.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.