EP0097360A2 — Modular self-routing PCM switching network with v…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 322 words

Self-routing modular PCM switching network with several time division stages, which belongs to a telephone exchange with telephone control (CTFa ... CTFc) distributed on the network periphery and comprises folded modular switching units (UC1a ... UC256a; UClb ... UC16b; UCIc ...UC8c) basically consisting of integrated circuit switching matrices (MEI ... ME256, MU1 ... MU256, MCE1 ... MCE16, MCU1 ... MCU16, MCC1 .. MCC l6) with microprocessor-compatible control, of integrated ancillary circuits for diagnostics (CDTEI ... CDTE5, CDTUI ...CDTU5) and of a local network controller in the form of a microprocessor (CTRla ... CTR256a, CTR1b ... CTRl6b, CTRlc ... CTR8c), the local controller (CTRla ... CTR8c) of each switching unit (UC1a ... UC8c) being connected to the controllers (CTRla ... CTR8c) of a plurality of units belonging to contiguous stages and/or to distributed telephone control units (CTFa ... CTFc) for the exchange of network control messages through the same PCM links which convey speech between continuous stages and from and to the network periphery, characterized in that each switching unit (UC1a ... UC8c) includes a pair of matrices (MEI, MU1 ... ME256, MU256; MCEI, MCU1 ... MCE16, MCU16;MCC1, MCC2 ... MCC15, MCC16) controlled by the same controller (CTRla ... CTR8c) and such that each switching unit incorporates both the input link and the corresponding output link from and to the contiguous stage or from and to'the periphery, and in that each matrix (MEI ... MCC16) and each periphery unit (ULI ... UL2048) is associated with integrated circuits (RTBE1 ... RTBE5, RTBU1 ... RTBU5) providing, on one or more of said links, a number of channels (referred to herein as "virtual channels") for transmission of said messages in a direction opposite to that of speech transmission on the same links, and integrated ancillary circuits (TNBDI ... TNBD5, ITBND1 ... ITNBD5) for exchange of said message using said virtual channels, the latter forming a dialogue network between controllers which is independent of the speech network.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 322 words

Self-routing modular PCM switching network with several time division stages, which belongs to a telephone exchange with telephone control (CTFa ... CTFc) distributed on the network periphery and comprises folded modular switching units (UC1a ... UC256a; UClb ... UC16b; UCIc ...UC8c) basically consisting of integrated circuit switching matrices (MEI ... ME256, MU1 ... MU256, MCE1 ... MCE16, MCU1 ... MCU16, MCC1 .. MCC l6) with microprocessor-compatible control, of integrated ancillary circuits for diagnostics (CDTEI ... CDTE5, CDTUI ...CDTU5) and of a local network controller in the form of a microprocessor (CTRla ... CTR256a, CTR1b ... CTRl6b, CTRlc ... CTR8c), the local controller (CTRla ... CTR8c) of each switching unit (UC1a ... UC8c) being connected to the controllers (CTRla ... CTR8c) of a plurality of units belonging to contiguous stages and/or to distributed telephone control units (CTFa ... CTFc) for the exchange of network control messages through the same PCM links which convey speech between continuous stages and from and to the network periphery, characterized in that each switching unit (UC1a ... UC8c) includes a pair of matrices (MEI, MU1 ... ME256, MU256; MCEI, MCU1 ... MCE16, MCU16;MCC1, MCC2 ... MCC15, MCC16) controlled by the same controller (CTRla ... CTR8c) and such that each switching unit incorporates both the input link and the corresponding output link from and to the contiguous stage or from and to'the periphery, and in that each matrix (MEI ... MCC16) and each periphery unit (ULI ... UL2048) is associated with integrated circuits (RTBE1 ... RTBE5, RTBU1 ... RTBU5) providing, on one or more of said links, a number of channels (referred to herein as "virtual channels") for transmission of said messages in a direction opposite to that of speech transmission on the same links, and integrated ancillary circuits (TNBDI ... TNBD5, ITBND1 ... ITNBD5) for exchange of said message using said virtual channels, the latter forming a dialogue network between controllers which is independent of the speech network.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 41 words

Network according to claim 1, characterized in that the integrated circuits (RTBE, RTBU) providing the virtual channels together with said links, provide a band equal at least to that of an entire PCM group, for control messages on each said link.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 22 words

Network in accordance with claims 1 or. 2, characterized in that said dialogue network includes a virtual channel for each PCM link.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 28 words

Network in accordance with any of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the integrated circuits(RTBE1... RTBU5) providing said virtual channel include a full - duplex transceiver (RTBE1......

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 180 words

.... RTBES) connected to the speech input of the matrix (ME1 ... ME16) or respectively of the periphery unit (UL1 ... UL2048) and a full - duplex transceiver (RTBUl....... RTBU5) connected to the speech output of the same matrix (ME1 ... MCC16) or of the same periphery unit (ULI ... UL2048), the input transceiver (RTBE1 ... RTBE5) routing speech towards the matrix or towards the periphery unit and forwarding messages relating to network control, which it receives from said ancillary integrated circuits (ITNBD1 ... TNBDS) for message exchange, towards the output transceiver (RTBU1 ... RTBU5) associated with a matrix of the adjacent stage or with a periphery unit,and the output transceiver (RTBU1 ... RTBU5) forwarding speech towards the input transceiver associated with a matrix (MEI ... MCC16) of an adjacent stage or with a peripheral unit (UL1 ... UL2048), and forwarding the messages which it receives from the controller of said matrix of the adjacent stage or from the telephone control unit (CTFa ... CTFc) associated with said periphery unit, towards ancillary integrated circuits (ITNBD1 ... TNBD5) for message exchange.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 180 words

.... RTBES) connected to the speech input of the matrix (ME1 ... ME16) or respectively of the periphery unit (UL1 ... UL2048) and a full - duplex transceiver (RTBUl....... RTBU5) connected to the speech output of the same matrix (ME1 ... MCC16) or of the same periphery unit (ULI ... UL2048), the input transceiver (RTBE1 ... RTBE5) routing speech towards the matrix or towards the periphery unit and forwarding messages relating to network control, which it receives from said ancillary integrated circuits (ITNBD1 ... TNBDS) for message exchange, towards the output transceiver (RTBU1 ... RTBU5) associated with a matrix of the adjacent stage or with a periphery unit,and the output transceiver (RTBU1 ... RTBU5) forwarding speech towards the input transceiver associated with a matrix (MEI ... MCC16) of an adjacent stage or with a peripheral unit (UL1 ... UL2048), and forwarding the messages which it receives from the controller of said matrix of the adjacent stage or from the telephone control unit (CTFa ... CTFc) associated with said periphery unit, towards ancillary integrated circuits (ITNBD1 ... TNBD5) for message exchange.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 297 words

Network in accordance with any of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that ancillary integrated circuits (ITNBD1 ... TNBD5) for message exchange associated with the switching units (UCla ... UC8c) include : - an interface device (TNBD1 ... TNBD5) capable on one side of asynchronously receiving one or more messages consisting of a plurality of words from the controller (CTRla ... CTR8c) of the switching unit ( UCla ... UC8c), of memorizing said message(s) and of inserting the words of said message(s) on an equal number of channels of a plurality of frames of a PCM flow to be inserted in the controller dialogue network, and on the other side of receiving from said network one or more messages organized in a PCM flow and consisting of a plurality of words, of memorizing said words until complete reception of message(s), and of supplying them asynchronously to the controller (CTR) associated with it; - a device carrying out serial-parallel and parallel-serial conversion (ITNBD1 ... ITNBD5), having a first input and a first output connected respectively to the receiving side (Rxu) of the output transceiver (RTBUI ... RTBU5) and to the transmitting side (Txe) of the input transceiver (RTBE1 ... RTBE5) and a second input and a second output connected to the interface device (TNBDI ... TNBD5), and capable of extracting in parallel, through the output transceiver and from the virtual channels associated with the matrix output groups, the content of said channels and of supplying such content in the form of PCM frame to the corresponding interface device (TNBD1 ... TNBD5), and capable of distributing the messages in a single PCM flow coming from said interface device (TNBD1 ... TNBD5) among the virtual channels for dialogue between controllers associated with all matrix input groups, through the input transceiver.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 210 words

Network in accordance with claim 5, characterized in that said devices carrying out serial/parallel and parallel/serial conversion (ITNBD1 ... ITNBDS) include a plurality of shift registers (SR1 ... SR16) equal in number to the number of input or output groups of a matrix, and in that the first register (SRI) has its input connected to the line(n) which conveys the PCM flow transmitted by the corresponding interface device (TNBD1 ... TNBD5) and its output connected to the first matrix input group, while the others (SR2... SR16) have their input connected to the output of a 2-input multiplexer (MX2 ... MX16) which has a first input connected to one of the matrix PCM output groups and the other input connected to the line (n) which conveys the PCM flow transmitted by the interface device (TNBDI ... TNBD5), the outputsof said other registers being connected both to the matrix input groups through AND gates (P2 ... P16) and to an equal number of inputs of a further multiplexer (MXO) which has a further input connected to the first output group of the matrix and an output connected to the line (m) which conveys the informa- . tion carried by the virtual channels for controller dialogue to the interface device (TNBDI ... TNBD5).

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 194 words

Network in accordance with claim 6,characterized in that said devices carrying out serial/parallel and parallel/serial conversion also include a time base (BT) which, on the basis of bit and frame synchronisms of a PCM flow, generates enabling and command signals in each PCM flow frame for said shift registers (SR1 ... SR16), said multiplexers (MXO ... MX16) and said AND gates (P1 ... P16) in such a way that in the time reserved to the virtual channels for controller dialogue the dialogue information'in said frame is sampled from the matrix output groups, and the dialogue information supplied by the interface device (TNBDI ... TNBD5) and stored in the registers in the preceding frame is transferred to the input groups; the multiplexers (MX2 ... MX16) connected to the inputs of the shift registers (SR2 ... SR16) are enabled in sequence to transfer to the registers the dialogue information supplied in that frame by the interface device (TNBD1 ... TNBD5), and the multiplexer (MXO) connected to the output of registers (SRI ... SR16) transfers in sequence the information stored by said registers in the virtual dialogue channel time of the preceding frame to the interface device.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 55 words

Network in accordance with any of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that that said interface devices(TNBD) permit a diagnosis of the devices performing serial/parallel and parallel/serial conversion (ITNBD), of circuits (RTBE, RTBU) providing virtual channels, and of the links on which the virtual channels are provided and on which the speech information is conveyed.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 79 words

Network in accordance with claim 5, characterized in thatthe ancillary integrated circuits for message exchange associated with periphery units (UL1 ... UL2048) include only the interface devices (TNBD1 ... TNBD5) in the case of periphery units controlled individually by a telephone control unit, and include both the interface devices (TNBD1 ... TNBD5)' and the devices carrying out serial/parallel and parallel/serial conversion (ITNBD1 ... ITNBD5) in the case of periphery units controlled in groups by a single telephone control unit.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 47 words

Network in accordance with any of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that matrices (MCEI ... MCE256, MCU1, ... MCU256) of the switching units (UC1a ... UC256a) relating to the extreme stages of the network respectively carry out an expansion or a concentration of their input groups.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 43 words

Network in accordance with any of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that in that each switching unit (UC1a ... UC8c) is physically contained in a single withdrawable and replaceable standard printed circuit board which constitutes the modular structural element of the network.

Modular self-routing PCM switching network with virtual-channel routing control for distributed-control telephone exchanges

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