US Patent 7515584 Switching data packets in an ethernet switch

An Ethernet data switch maintains one or more queues for each of its ports in a shared memory. The memory is divided into data packets. When a data packet is received, the switch checks whether it can be stored efficiently in the packet buffers, and if the packet cannot be stored efficiently then a portion of the packet is stored in a separate memory and the remaining portion of the packet is stored in the packet buffers.