Communication devices such as but not limited to routers and switches manage multiple flows of data. These data flows include multiple data packets that include data payloads as well as control information (also referred to as routing information) fields.
A typical communication device, including a layer-two switch or above communication device, receives a data packet over a physical (PHY) layer, then perform media access control (MAC) processing and then performs forwarding processing including classification, switching, queuing and editing.
Typical full-duplex multiple-port switches usually include a PHY layer circuit, a PHY-MAC circuit and a MAC layer circuit per port. This architecture is costly and size consuming, which ends up with high power consumption, especially in switches that have many ports and are expected to manage large packets.
There is a need to provide an efficient multi-port switch that can manage large packets and can include many ports and consume low ASIC die area.