Modular switching network

Claim 2

A communication switching system comprising: a plurality of input trunk groups, each including a number of information channels; a plurality of output trunk groups, each including a number of information channels; a plurality of switching modules, each having a plurality of input connections, the number of input connections in said plurality of input connections of each of said switching modules being equal in number to the number of input trunk groups in said plurality of input trunk groups, each input connection of each switching module being coupled to a separate one of said plurality of input trunk groups, each switching module having an output connection coupled to a different one of said plurality of output trunk groups, and each of said plurality of switching modules being operative to transfer data from any one of the information channels of said plurality of input trunk groups to any one of the information channels of the associated different one of said plurality of output trunk groups.

Claim 3

A communication switching system according to claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of input and output trunk groups includes a transmission line adapted to propagate time division multiplexed data having a predetermined number of time slots each of which corresponds to one of said information channels.

Claim 4

A communication switching system according to claim 2 wherein each of said plurality of switching modules includes a control line.

Claim 5

A communication switching system according to claim 3 including control means having an input connection coupled to each of said plurality of input trunk groups and an output connection coupled to the control line of each of said plurality of switching modules and being operative in response to data on said plurality of input trunk groups to direct a control signal to the control line of a selected one of said switching modules to transfer the incoming data to an information channel of the selected output trunk group.

Claim 6

A communication switching system according to claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of switching modules includes data memory means having input connections coupled to each of said plurality of input trunk groups, an output connection coupled to a predetermined one of said output trunk groups and an address connection and being operative to store information bits arriving on said trunk groups in predetermined memory locations and being operative in response to a connection address signal at its address connection to exit selected ones of said information bits to its associated output trunk group; and connection address memory means coupled to the address connection of said data memory means and being operative to store a predetermined number of connection address signals corresponding to the number of information channels and to transfer said connection address signals to said data memory means whereby the data stored in said data memory means is transferred to selected information channels of said associated output trunk group.

Claim 7

A time division communication switching system comprising: a plurality of input trunk groups, each including a number of information channels; a plurality of output trunk groups, each including a number of information channels; a plurality of data memory means, each having input connections coupled to each of said plurality of input trunk groups, each having an output connection coupled to a different one of said plurality of output trunk groups and each having a connection address input connection and each being operative to store in predetermined locations data arriving on the information channels of said plurality of input trunk groups and to transfer said data to a selected information channel of its associated output trunk group in response to a connection addRess signal at its connection address input connection; and a like plurality of connection address memory means, each being coupled to a different one of said plurality of data memory means and being operative to store a number of connection address signals corresponding to the number of information channels on said output trunk groups and being operative to store and sequentially transfer said connection address signals to the connection address input connection of its associated data memory whereby the data stored in the associated memory is sequentially transferred to its associated output trunk group in an order corresponding to the connection address signals.

Claim 8

A time division communication switching system comprising: a plurality of input trunk groups, each including a number of information channels; a plurality of output trunk groups, each including a number of information channels; a plurality of data memory means, each having input connections coupled to each of said plurality of input trunk groups, each having an output connection coupled to a different one of said plurality of output trunk groups and each having a connection address input connection and each being operative to store in predetermined locations data arriving on the information channels of said plurality of input trunk groups and to transfer said data to a selected information channel of its associated output trunk group in response to a connection addRess signal at its connection address input connection; and a like plurality of connection address memory means, each being coupled to a different one of said plurality of data memory means and being operative to store a number of connection address signals corresponding to the number of information channels on said output trunk groups and being operative to store and sequentially transfer said connection address signals to the connection address input connection of its associated data memory whereby the data stored in the associated memory is sequentially transferred to its associated output trunk group in an order corresponding to the connection address signals.

Claim 9

A time division communication switching system according to claim 6 wherein each of said plurality of connection address memory means includes an input address connection and is operative in response to a signal at its input address connection to update any connection address signal stored therein.

Claim 10

A time division communication switching system according to claim 7 including a computer control means having input connections coupled to each of said plurality of input trunk groups and output connections coupled to each of the input address connections of said plurality of connection address memory means and being operative in response to data arriving on any one of the information channels of said plurality of input trunk groups to generate a connection update signal at the input address connection of a selected one of said connection address memory means to have the connection address signal stored in said selected one of said connection address memory means whereby the data arriving on any one of the information channels of said plurality of input trunk groups can be transferred to any one of the information channels of the output trunk group associated with said selected one of said connection address memory means.