Digital time division multiplex telecommunication network

Claim 1

In a digital time division multiplex (TDM) telecommunication network having central office means and a TDM highway having its ends connected to said central office means and having a plurality of subscriber terminals connected to said TDM highway in a predetermined order, said central office means transmitting information to said subscriber terminals in an order corresponding to the predetermined order of connection of said subscriber terminals to said TDM highway, each said subscriber terminal including means for passing information intended for other succeeding subscriber terminals, the improvement comprising: said TDM highway being formed into at least two main route sections, each main route section having at least one branch loop extending from a branch point, each of said branch loops having outgoing and incoming line sections relative to said branch point, each of said incoming line sections being connected at said branch point to either an outgoing line section of another one of said branch loops or one of said main route sections; a plurality of switch means located at said branch points for short circuiting individual ones of said branch loops and individual ones of said main route sections, wherein said central office means monitors the information flow on said TDM highway to determine the location of a fault condition in any one of said branch loops or one of said main route sections, selectively operates said plurality of switch means to short circuit the branch loop or the main route section in which the fault condition occurs and suppresses the information intended for the subscriber terminals on the branch loop or main route section which is short circuited by said plurality of switch means.