System for determining and selecting free aligned telecommunication channels

Claim 1

AN ELECTRONIC SWITCHING SYSTEM COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF TIME DIVISION MULTIPLEX HIGHWAYS, EACH OF SAID HIGHWAYS HAVING N NUMBER OF ALIGNED CHANNELS INDIVIDUALLY IDENTIFIED BY N NUMBER TIME SLOTS; A CHANNEL SELECTION SYSTEM COMPRISING MEMORY MEANS, BUFFER STORAGE MEANS, AND LOCKOUT MEANS; SAID MEMORY MEANS COMPRISING AT LEAST ONE RECTANGULAR MATRIX HAVING ROWS AND COLUMNS OF MEMORY CELLS, EACH OF SAID ROWS CORRESPONDING TO AN ASSOCIATED ONE OF SAID HIGHWAYS AND EACH OF SAID COLUMNS CORRESPONDING TO AN ASSOCIATED ONE OF ALIGNED CHANNELS ON SAID HIGHWAYS; SAID BUFFER STORAGE MEANS COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF COINCIDENCE GATES CONNECTED TO SAID MEMORY CELLS FOR GIVING AN INDICATION WHEN ALL ALIGNED CHANNELS ARE IDLE, THERE BEING A COINCIDENCE GATE FOR EACH OF SAID CHANNELS; SAID LOCKOUT MEANS COMPRISING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID BUFFER STORAGE MEANS FOR SELECTING, BUSYING, AND FREEING TIME SLOTS WHEN CONNECTIONS ARE INITIATED OR RELEASED; AND MEANS FOR STORING A BUSY SIGNAL IN THE MEMORY CELLS CONNECTED TO SAID ONE COINCIDENCE GATE WHEN A CHANNEL BECOMES BUSY.