US Patent 7957371 Linearly expandable broadcast router apparatus

A linearly expandable router is comprised of first, second, third and fourth router components. First, second and third discrete links couple an input side of a routing engine of the first router component (102) to an input side of a routing engine of the second, third and fourth router components. Similarly, fourth and fifth discrete links couple the input side of the routing engine for the second router component to the input side of the routing engine of the third and fourth router components, respectively. Finally, a sixth discrete link couples the input side of the routing engine for the third router component to the input side of the router engine for the fourth router component.