US Patent 7840136 Low-latency switch using optical and electrical proximity communication

Embodiments of a switch are described. This switch includes input ports configured to receive signals (which include data) and output ports configured to output the signals. In addition, the switch includes switching elements and a flow-control mechanism, which is configured to provide flow-control information associated with the data to the switching elements via an electrical control path. Note that the electrical control path is configured to use proximity communication to communicate the flow-control information. Furthermore, the switching elements are configured to selectively couple the input ports to the output ports via optical signal paths based on the flow-control information.