Telecommunications system

A telecommunication system comprising®

• a plurality of telecommunication devices;
• and
• a switch network having a plurality of data storage units for storing connection data relating to one or more respective telecommunication devices;
• a register unit for storing associations between said data storage units and one or more respective identification codes;
• input means for inputting one of said one or more respective identification codes;
• a switch unit for interrogating said register unit to determine the data storage unit associated with said one identification code;
• link means for using the connection data stored by said data storage unit association with said one identification code to form a telecommunication link with one of said corresponding one or more telecommunication devices;
• and
• at least one routing unit;
• wherein there is at least one predetermined condition which determines a first and a second state of said register unit, said register unit and said switch unit being arranged to determine the data storage unit associated with said identification code input by said input means when said register unit is in said first state, and to link said register unit and said switch unit to said at least one routing unit when said register unit is in the second state.

A method of operating a switch network of a telecommunication system including a plurality of telecommunication devices, the method comprising:

• storing connection data relating to one or more respective telecommunication devices in a plurality of data storage units;
• storing associations between said data storage units and one or more respective identification codes in a register unit, said register unit having first and second states defined by at least one predetermined condition;
• inputting an identification code;
• interrogating said register unit when said register unit is in the first state to determine the data storage unit associated with said input identification code, and using the connection data stored by that data storage unit to form a telecommunication link with one of the corresponding one or more telecommunication devices;
• and
• interrogating at least one routing unit when the register unit is in the second state to derive information from said routing unit to form the telecommunications link.