Port router

Abstract

An apparatus and method which provide increased data flow through a compute platform by optimizing data flow between an external device and the internal circuitry without the need for user intervention. A port router is provided which includes a controller switch, a port switch, and one or more connections between the controller switch and the port switch. The controller switch, the port switch and the one or more connections are adapted to provide dynamic re-routing of connections between the port switch inputs and the controller switch outputs. A method is also provided for dynamically routing ports to internal circuitry of a compute platform. The method includes providing a configurable switching circuit, querying the configurable switching circuit to determine a default topology, computing an optimized topology upon the occurrence of a change of the data flow through the configurable switching circuit, suspending operation and effecting re-routing between the interface ports and the internal circuitry based on the optimized topology, and resuming IO operations through the configurable switching circuit. The method and apparatus may be applied to personal computer systems, information appliances, set-top boxes, cable modems, game consoles, smart appliances, handheld computers, palm-sized computers, embedded control systems, workstations, servers and the like.