Switching apparatus

A connection device used in an ATM switching apparatus to deliver data from a data unit to a plurality of input ports of a Switch, including an input circuit having:

• a data input connected to said data unit to receive data therefrom;
• data outputs connected respectively to the said input ports, each data output being switchable from an active state, in which it serves to output data, to an inactive state in which it has a high impedance;
• and
• a data transfer units connected between said data input and said data outputs passing data received at said data input to a selected one of said data outputs, with the selected data output being switched to said active state, and switching remaining data output to the said inactive state;
• wherein said data input of the input circuit is adapted to receive data in n-bit parallel form from said data unit, and each data output is adapted to output data in bit-serial form or m-bit parallel form, where m<n, the data transfer units including a first data conversion unit converting the n-bit parallel-form data received at said data input into said bit-serial-form or said m-bit parallel form data for output at said selected one of the data outputs.

A connection device used in an ATM switching apparatus to deliver data from a data unit to a plurality of input ports of a switch, including an input circuit having:

• a data input connected to said data unit to receive data therefrom;
• data outputs connected respectively to said input ports, each data output being switchable from an active state, in which it serves to output data, to an inactive state in which it has a high impedance;
• and
• a data transfer units connected between said data input and said data outputs passing data received at said data input to a selected one of said data outputs, with selected data output being switched to said active state, and switching each remaining data output to said inactive state;
• wherein said data unit delivers its said data to the data input of the input circuit in the form of data packets, each packet including routing information indicating an intended destination of the packet, the device further comprising a self-routing circuit operable, when such a packet is received at said data input of the input circuit, to select the data output of the input circuit from which the packet is to be output in dependence upon said routing information.

A connection device used in an ATM switching apparatus to deliver data from a plurality of different data units to an input port of a switch, including an input circuit having:

• data inputs connected respectively to said data units to receive data therefrom;
• a data output connected to said input port;
• and
• a data transfer units connected between said data inputs and said data output selecting the data inputs individually in a predetermined sequence and passing data received at the selected data input to said data output;
• and
• the device further including an output circuit having a single data input connected to an output port of the switch to receive data therefrom, and also having a plurality of data outputs connected respectively to said data units, and a data transfer unit connected between said data input and said data outputs of the output circuit operating to pass data received at that data input to a selected one of those data outputs.

A connection device used in an ATM switching apparatus to deliver data from a plurality of different data units to an input port of a switch, including an input circuit having:

• data inputs connected respectively to said data units to receive data therefrom;
• a data output connected to said input port;
• and
• a data transfer unit connected between said data inputs and said data output selecting the data inputs individually in a predetermined sequence and passing data received at the selected data input to said data output;
• and
• wherein said data units deliver their said data to the respective data inputs of the input circuit in the form of data packets, each packet including routing information including an intended destination of the packet, the device further comprising self-routing circuits operable, when such packet is received at said data inputs of said input circuit, to select the data output of the input circuit from which that packet is to be output in dependence upon said routing information.

A cross-connect switching device including:

• a plurality of ports, at least one of which is a bidirectional port;
• data transfer unit in communication with the ports and selectively controllable to provide a plurality of data transfer paths, each transferring data from one of the ports to another of the ports;
• and
• port control units connected between the data transfer units and said bidirectional port and switchable from an input configuration, in which that port is employed as an input port receiving data to be transferred to another port by the data transfer units, to an output configuration in which the same port is employed as an output port outputting data received at another port and transferred to said output port by the data transfer units.

Switching apparatus including:

• a plurality of data units;
• cross-connect switching means, having input ports and output ports, for providing plural data transfer paths at the same time, each said data transfer path serving to pass data received at one of said input ports to one of said output ports;
• and
• connection means connected to said input ports and to said data units, for delivering data packets from the data units to the input ports,
• wherein the data units operate in pairs to exchange data packets, one of the two data units of each such data-unit pair being a source data unit and the other of the two data-unit pair being a destination data unit for receiving data packets from the source data unit of the pair, and each said data-unit pair is allocated a different one of said plural data transfer paths for transferring the data packets from said source data unit to said destination unit so that a set of data-unit pairs, made up of as many data-unit pairs as there are output ports, can exchange data packets at a same time and said connection means delivers data packets at the same time from the source data units of all the data-unit pairs in the set to the input ports of the data transfer paths allocated to the data-unit pairs in the set, and being further operable, so that at least one of said input ports receives data packets from at least two different data units at different respective times, which data units together constitute a data delivery group associated with that input port.

A connection device for use in ATM switching apparatus to deliver data from a data unit to a plurality of input ports of a switch, including an input circuit having:

• a data input for connection to said data unit to receive data therefrom;
• data outputs for connection respectively to said input ports, each data output being switchable from an active state, in which it serves to output data, to an inactive state in which it has a high impedance;
• and
• data transfer means connected between said data input and said data outputs for passing data received at said data input to a selected one of said data outputs, with selected data output being switched to said active state, and switching remaining data output to said inactive state;
• wherein said data input of the input circuit is adapted to receive data in n-bit parallel form from said data unit, and each data output is adapted to output data in bit-serial form or m-bit parallel form, where m<n, the data transfer means including first data conversion means for converting the n-bit parallel-form data received at said data input into said bit-serial-form or said m-bit parallel form data for output at said selected one of the data outputs.

A connection device for use in ATM switching apparatus to deliver data from a plurality of different data units to an input port of a switch, including an input circuit having:

• data inputs for connecting respectively to said data units to receive data therefrom;
• a data output for connection to said input port;
• and
• data transfer meanss connected between said data inputs and said data output for selecting the data inputs individually in a predetermined sequence and passing data received at the selected data input to said data output;
• and
• the device further including an output circuit having a single data input for connection to an output port of the switch to receive data therefrom, and also having a plurality of data outputs for connection respectively to said data units, and data transfer means connected between said data input and said data outputs of the output circuit and operable to pass data received at that data input to a selected one of those data outputs.

A cross-connect switching device including:

• a plurality of ports, at least one of which is a bidirectional port;
• data transfer means selectively controllable to provide a plurality of data transfer paths, each for transferring data from one of the ports to another of the ports;
• and
• port control means connected between the data transfer units and said bidirectional port and switchable from an input configuration, in which that port is employed as an input port for receiving data to be transferred to another port by the data transfer means, to an output configuration in which the same port is employed as an output port outputting data received at another port and transferred to said output port by the data transfer means.