EP0266530A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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A method of controlling a multi-stage interconnection network
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1987-09-18
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2007-09-18
Abstract
Abstract In a method for switching voice and data over a multistage interconnection network (MIN) (10), a plurality of bits are stored in respective storage locations (2-1, 2-2, ... 2-512) of the switching elements (5) of the MIN. Each storage location of a switching element represents a particular time slot in a frame or a sequence of frames. Bits (27, 26) stored in each location represent specific conditions of the inputs and outputs of the switching elements and also indicate which inputs of the switching elements will be connected to which outputs of the switching elements. This storage of control information in the switching elements allows the switching network to rapidly and simultaneously change connections through the switching elements of the network.
Inventors
- 👤 Daniel Manuel Dias
- 👤 Yeong-Chang Lien
- 👤 Kiyoshi Maruyama
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-01 23:08
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04Q; H04Q11/00; H04Q11/04; H04L; H04L49/00; H04L49/25; H04L49/253; H04L49/254; H04L49/10; H04L49/101; H04L49/30; H04L49/3018; H04L49/50; H04L49/505
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 14
Claim 1
Independent Claim
195 words
A method of controlling a multistage interconnection network (10) for the switching of synchronous and asynchronous data, the network having a number of switch elements (5) used to interconnect a number of conductive links (6) used to forward the synchronous and asynchronous data from selected inputs of the switching elements to selected outputs of the switching elements during each frame of a sequence of frames, the method of comprising the step of: (a) storing a plurality of bits in storage locations (2-1, 2-2, ... 2-512) of a number of the switching elements (5) of the network; (b) setting the configuration of each of the switch elements (5) during each particular time slot to correspond to the configuration represented by a corresponding set of bits (27) stored in each respective switch element, each configuration of each of the switching elements being used to interconnect selected links, of the links of the network, at the inputs of each respective switch element to selected links at the outputs of each respective switching element, each of the selected links being used to forward data from one of the switch elements to another of the switch elements of the network.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
195 words
A method of controlling a multistage interconnection network (10) for the switching of synchronous and asynchronous data, the network having a number of switch elements (5) used to interconnect a number of conductive links (6) used to forward the synchronous and asynchronous data from selected inputs of the switching elements to selected outputs of the switching elements during each frame of a sequence of frames, the method of comprising the step of: (a) storing a plurality of bits in storage locations (2-1, 2-2, ... 2-512) of a number of the switching elements (5) of the network; (b) setting the configuration of each of the switch elements (5) during each particular time slot to correspond to the configuration represented by a corresponding set of bits (27) stored in each respective switch element, each configuration of each of the switching elements being used to interconnect selected links, of the links of the network, at the inputs of each respective switch element to selected links at the outputs of each respective switching element, each of the selected links being used to forward data from one of the switch elements to another of the switch elements of the network.
Claim 3
Independent Claim
206 words
A method of controlling a multistage interconnection network (10) for the switching of synchronous and asynchronous data, the network having a number of switch elements (5) used to interconnect a number of conductive links (6) to establish transmission paths from selected inputs of the network to selected outputs of the network during each corresponding time slot of selected time slots in each frame of a sequence of frames, the method comprising the steps of: (a) storing a plurality of bits in respective storage locations (2-1, 2-2, ... 2-512) of a number of the switching elements (5) of the network; and (b) setting the configuration of each of the switching elements during each particular time slot to correspond to the configuration represented by the bits (27) stored in a respective storage location corresponding to the particular time slot, each configuration of each of the switching elements being used to interconnect selected links of the links at the inputs of each respective switching element to selected links of the links at the outputs of each respective switching element, each of the paths being established from the interconnection of a number of the selected links during the same corresponding time slot in each frame of a sequence of frames.
Claim 4
Independent Claim
206 words
A method of controlling a multistage interconnection network (10) for the switching of synchronous and asynchronous data, the network having a number of switch elements (5) used to interconnect a number of conductive links (6) to establish transmission paths from selected inputs of the network to selected outputs of the network during each corresponding time slot of selected time slots in each frame of a sequence of frames, the method comprising the steps of: (a) storing a plurality of bits in respective storage locations (2-1, 2-2, ... 2-512) of a number of the switching elements (5) of the network; and (b) setting the configuration of each of the switching elements during each particular time slot to correspond to the configuration represented by the bits (27) stored in a respective storage location corresponding to the particular time slot, each configuration of each of the switching elements being used to interconnect selected links of the links at the inputs of each respective switching element to selected links of the links at the outputs of each respective switching element, each of the paths being established from the interconnection of a number of the selected links during the same corresponding time slot in each frame of a sequence of frames.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
31 words
A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the number of storage locations (2-1, 2-2, ... 2-512) in each switching element (5) corresponds to the number of slots in each frame.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
20 words
A method as recited in claim 2 wherein each switching element (5) has two inputs (61) and two outputs (62).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
42 words
A method as recited in claim 2 wherein three bits (27) are used in each storage location of a switching element (5) to represent any one of seven possible configurations the switching element can assume during a time slot in a frame.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
44 words
A method as recited in claim 2, wherein a number of the bits (26) stored in each storage location of each switching element (5) are used to indicate the state of that respective switching element during the time slot corresponding to each respective location.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
33 words
A method as recited in claim 4, wherein the switching element input (61) can assume any one of three states: a switch setting pending state, a connection established state and an unconnected state.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
41 words
A method as recited in claim 2, wherein step (b) of claim 2 will only occur if the switch (5) is in the connection established state during the respective time slot in which the switching element configuration is to be changed.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
257 words
In a multistage interconnection network a method of establishing an initial electrical connection from any given input of the multistage interconnection network (10) to a requested output of the network, the electrical connection being a path formed by interconnecting a number of links (6), the links being interconnected by switching elements (5) at various stages of the network, the connection being established for transmission of synchronous and asynchronous data, the method comprising the steps of: (a) transmitting a particular configuration bit for each switch element (5) of the path to be established, each said particular configuration bit being transmitted in the same corresponding time slot as the time slot used by any other configuration bit, but in a different frame than the frame used by any other configuration bit, each said configuration bit being used to indicate the output to be used by an associated switching element in establishing the path, the association between the switching element and a configuration bit being established by the order in which the bits are transmitted, with the first configuration bit to be transmitted being associated with the switching element of the path in the first stage, the second configuration bit being associated with the switching element of the path in the second stage, and so on until the last configuration bit to be transmitted is associated with the switching element of the path in the last stage; and (b) establishing a connection in each switching element (5) of the path to correspond to that indicated by its associated configuration bit.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
257 words
In a multistage interconnection network a method of establishing an initial electrical connection from any given input of the multistage interconnection network (10) to a requested output of the network, the electrical connection being a path formed by interconnecting a number of links (6), the links being interconnected by switching elements (5) at various stages of the network, the connection being established for transmission of synchronous and asynchronous data, the method comprising the steps of: (a) transmitting a particular configuration bit for each switch element (5) of the path to be established, each said particular configuration bit being transmitted in the same corresponding time slot as the time slot used by any other configuration bit, but in a different frame than the frame used by any other configuration bit, each said configuration bit being used to indicate the output to be used by an associated switching element in establishing the path, the association between the switching element and a configuration bit being established by the order in which the bits are transmitted, with the first configuration bit to be transmitted being associated with the switching element of the path in the first stage, the second configuration bit being associated with the switching element of the path in the second stage, and so on until the last configuration bit to be transmitted is associated with the switching element of the path in the last stage; and (b) establishing a connection in each switching element (5) of the path to correspond to that indicated by its associated configuration bit.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
112 words
A method as recited in claim 9 wherein the first configuration bit is transmitted from a first input of the network corresponding to the path and to an input of the switching element associated with the first configuration bit, and wherein the second configuration bit is transmitted from said first input, through the switching element associated with the first configuration bit to an input of the switching element associated with the second configuration bit, and so on until the last configuration bit is transmitted from the first input, through all previous switching elements associated with previous configuration bits, and to the input of the switching element associated with the last configuration bit.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
24 words
A method as recited in claim 9 wherein an acknowledgement bit is transmitted to an input of each switching element that has connection established.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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