| abstract |
A distributed digital exchange for completing a communications link between a selected originating channel and one or more selected destination channels. The exchange includes an input bus containing a given number of input lines, with each input line for conveying a time-division-multiplexed plurality of time-division-multiplexed input signals, with each data bit position of every frame of each input signal defining a discrete originating channel; a clock system for providing timing signals for defining frames and bit positions corresponding to the frames and bit positions of the input signals; an exchange bus containing at least the given number of lines for conveying the input signals; a novel input processor for receiving the input signals, for synchronizing the input signals in response to the timing signals and for transferring each received plurality of input signals from a selected line of the input bus to a selected line of the exchange bus; an output bus containing at least the given number of output lines, with each output line for conveying a time-division-multiplexed output signal, with each data bit position of every frame of each output signal defining a discrete destination channel; a plurality of novel switching systems, each of which includes circuits for routing data from any selected data bit position in a frame of any selected time-division-multiplexed input signal on a selected line of the exchange bus to one or more selected data bit positions in a frame of any selected time-division-multiplexed output signal; and a controller for controlling the selections. |