Electronic switching system

Claim 1

IN A COMMUNICATION SWITCHING SYSTEM, A SWITCHING NETWORK FOR SELECTIVELY ESTABLISHING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ANY ONE OF A PLURALITY OF ORIGINATING PATHS AND ANY ONE OF A PLURALITY OF TERMINATING PATHS IN ACCORDANCE WITH SUPERVISORY CONTROL SIGNALS RECEIVED IN A GIVEN CALL, SAID SWITCHING NETWORK COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF JUNCTOR LINKS, AND A PLURALITY OF CROSSPOINT MATRIX SWITCHES CONNECTED BY INTERSTAGE LINKS FOR SELECTIVELY CONNECTING THE JUNCTOR LINKS TO THE ORIGINATING PATHS AND TO THE TERMINATING PATHS, EACH MATRIX SWITCH COMPRISING A COORDINATE ARRAY OF SWITCHING DEVICES, COMMON CONTROL EQUIPMENT INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF STORAGE UNITS, EACH UNIT HAVING A GROUP OF STORAGE ELEMENTS, MEANS FOR ASSOCIATING THE GIVEN CALL WITH A PARTICULAR STORAGE UNIT FOR THE DURATION OF THE CALL AND FOR RESPONDING TO THE SUPERVISORY CONTROL SIGNALS TO REGISTER THE NUMERICAL DESIGNATION OF A CALLED TERMINATING PATH IN THE CORRESPONDING UNIT, A MARKER CONTROLLED BY THE CALLED PATH NUMERICAL DESIGNATION AS REGISTERED IN SAID UNIT FOR FINDING AN AVAILABLE ROUTE AND SUPPLYING MARKING SIGNALS TO CAUSE A CONNECTION TO BE ESTABLISHED THROUGH THE SWITCHING NETWORK BETWEEN THE ORIGINATING PATH FOR THE CALL AND THE TERMINATING PATH BY WAY OF THE ROUTE FOUND, AND MEANS FOR STORING THE IDENTITY OF SAID ROUTE IN SAID GROUP OF ELEMENTS FOR THE DURATION OF THE CALL, THE CONNECTION IN THE SWITCHING NETWORK BEING MAINTAINED DURING THE CALL INDEPENDENTLY OF THE COMMON CONTROL EQUIPMENT.