Jitterless and lossless switching fabric with network routing

A method for providing substantially jitterless and lossless transmission from a source switch to a destination switch, said method comprising the steps of:

• determining a set of candidate routes, in response to at least one call request, by calculating link capacity between said source switch and said destination switch;
• comparing a required bandwidth of said call request with a maximum available bandwidth of a link to select a call route;
• selecting a direct link for said call route if said capacity of said direct link is available;
• selecting an alternate link for said call route if said direct link is unavailable and said alternate link has available bandwidth, said alternate link including at least one switch;
• blocking said call request when said required bandwidth is unavailable;
• updating said link capacity on a periodic basis at said source switch, said destination switch and other switches to permit dynamic changing of said call route during a call
• assigning a contiguous set of time slots in a given time frame to accommodate said call request;
• internally routing data packets by cross-referencing a number of contiguous time slots assigned for said call request with an output port;
• and
• switching said data packets associated with said call request within said given time frame.

A network including a switching fabric which provides substantially jitterless and lossless transmission from a source switch to a destination switch, comprising:

• at least one switch processor for determining, in response to at least one call request, if capacity exists in a link to establish a call route from said source switch to said destination switch, said at least one switch processor blocking said call request when said capacity is unavailable;
• at least one buffer for holding data packets associated with said at least one call when bandwidth is available in said link, said at least one buffer coupled to said at least one switch processor;
• and
• said at least one switch processor further operable to provision a required number of contiguous time slots in a given time frame and to route said data packets by cross-referencing said number of contiguous time slots provisioned to said data packets associated with said call an output port and switch said data packets in given time frames.

A switching fabric for providing substantially jitterless and lossless switching of data packets, comprising;

• at least one switch processor for determining bandwidth availability by checking periodically updated bandwidth availability from other switches in response to a call request, said at least one switch processor rejecting said call request when a required bandwidth is unavailable;
• said at least one switch processor assigning contiguous time slots in a given time frame to said data packets when said required bandwidth is available;
• at least one input unit for processing said data packets when said required bandwidth is available wherein said input unit includes at least one buffer for holding said data packets, said buffer sized to hold a number of data packets corresponding to said given time frame and a speed of a transport medium;
• and
• at least one output unit for receiving processed data packets from said at least one input unit and transmitting said processed data packets to a next switch.