Network switch providing dynamic load balancing

For a network including a plurality of network stations, each network station having a unique network address, a network switch for selectively routing data transmissions between said network stations, wherein each data transmission includes network addresses of the data transmission's source and destination network stations, the network switch comprising:

• a plurality of input/output (I/O) ports,
• wherein each I/O port communicating with at least one of said network stations by receiving data transmissions therefrom and transmitting data transmissions thereto, each I/O port being identified by a unique physical port ID and by a logical port ID corresponding to a set of network stations with which the I/O port communicates,
• wherein more than one of said I/O ports communicate with a similar set of network stations and share a similar logical port ID,
• wherein each I/O port receiving a data transmission from one of said network stations generates an address translation request containing its own logical port ID containing the source and destination network addresses included in the data transmission;
• and
• address translation means for receiving translation requests from said I/O ports, for ascertaining from logical port IDs and source network addresses included in said translation requests a relationship between each network station's network address and a logical port ID identifying all I/O ports that communicate with that station, and for returning to each I/O port sending an address translation request, a logical port ID identifying all I/O ports which communicate with a destination network station identified by a network address included in the translation request.

For network including a plurality of network stations, each network station having a unique network address, a network switch for selectively routing data transmissions between said network stations, wherein each data transmission includes network addresses of the data transmission's source and destination network stations, the network switch comprising:

• a plurality of input/output (I/O) ports;
• address translation means;
• routing means;
• and
• arbitration means,
• wherein each I/O port communicates with at least one of said network stations by receiving data transmissions therefrom and transmitting data transmissions thereto,
• wherein each I/O port is identified by a unique physical port ID and by a logical port ID corresponding to a set of network stations with which the I/O port communicates,
• wherein more than one of said I/O ports communicates with a similar set of network stations and share a similar logical port ID,
• wherein when any of said I/O ports receives a data transmission, it stores the data transmission, generates an output translation request including the source and destination station network addresses included in the data transmission and including its own logical port ID,
• wherein when any of said I/O ports receives an input translation response containing a logical port ID of I/O ports it stores that logical port I/D,
• wherein when any of said I/O ports storing a data transmission received from a source station and storing a logical port ID received in a translation response receives input poll data including its own physical ID and a stored logical port ID returned from said address translation system, that I/O port generates an input poll response including its stored logical port ID,
• wherein when any of said I/O ports not currently forwarding a data transmission to a station receives output poll data including its own logical port ID, it generates an output poll response including its own physical port ID;
• wherein when any of said I/O ports storing a data transmission received from a source station receives a connection grant including its own physical port ID, it provides its stored data transmission as output, wherein said address translation means receives translation requests from said I/O ports, identifies from logical port ID's and source station network addresses included in said translation requests a relationship between each station's network address and a logical port ID identifying all I/O ports that communicate with that station, and returns to the I/O port sending each translation request a translation response containing a logical port ID of I/O ports which communicate with a destination station identified by a network address included in the translation request,
• wherein said routing means selectively interconnects any one of said I/O ports to any other of said I/O ports for routing data transmissions therebetween in accordance with input routing control data,
• wherein said arbitration means generates and transmits input and output poll data to said I/O ports and receives input and output poll responses from said I/O ports thereby to determine which I/O ports are storing data transmissions received from network stations and to determine physical port ID's of output ports that are ready to forward the data transmissions to their destination network stations,
• wherein said arbitration means generates and transmits routing control data to said routing system, such that said routing system connects each I/O port storing a data transmission received from a source station to an I/O port that may forward the data transmission to its destination station, and
• wherein said arbitration means generates and transmits grants to the I/O ports storing received data transmissions such that said I/O ports output said stored data transmissions and send them via said routing means to I/O ports that are ready to forward them to destination network stations.