Queue segmentation and addressing method and apparatus for a cell switch in a processing communications satellite

The present invention is a method and apparatus for processing data packets in the outbound module of a space-based cell switch. The present invention uses an expanded set of queuing parameters to determine an output queue in which to store each data packet. The method includes the steps of selecting an expanded set of queuing parameters (202), establishing several output queues (204) based on combinations of the expanded set of queuing parameters, receiving data packets in a communications uplink (206), examining the header portion of each received data packet (208, 210 and 212), determining an appropriate output queue in which to store the data packet (214 and 216), and switching the received data packets to that appropriate output queue (218). The present apparatus includes several input modules (102), a switch control output (114) connected between the input module (102) and a switch fabric (104), and a several output modules (106) connected to the switch fabric (104). The input modules (102) each include a discriminator circuit (108) distinguishing among several combinations of queuing parameters from an expanded set of queuing parameters, and the output modules (106) each include several output queues (116) and a cell selector (118) for selecting the destination output queue in which to store each data packet.