Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 19
Claim 1
Independent Claim
142 words
A data switching system for switching data packets from a plurality of inlets to a plurality of outlets, comprising: a plurality of data switching means, each having at least one output, for chaining data packets from ones of said plurality of inlets to one of said plurality of outlets; and circuit switching means connected to said plurality of data switching means for connecting outputs of said plurality of data switching means to said plurality of outlets; each of said data switching means comprising means for requesting of said circuit switching means a connection between an output of said each data switching means and one of said plurality of outlets, said means for requesting comprising high priority and low priority queues for storing requests to set up a connection for transmitting a chain of data packets having high priority and low priority respectively.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
142 words
A data switching system for switching data packets from a plurality of inlets to a plurality of outlets, comprising: a plurality of data switching means, each having at least one output, for chaining data packets from ones of said plurality of inlets to one of said plurality of outlets; and circuit switching means connected to said plurality of data switching means for connecting outputs of said plurality of data switching means to said plurality of outlets; each of said data switching means comprising means for requesting of said circuit switching means a connection between an output of said each data switching means and one of said plurality of outlets, said means for requesting comprising high priority and low priority queues for storing requests to set up a connection for transmitting a chain of data packets having high priority and low priority respectively.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
51 words
The data switching system of claim 1, wherein said circuit switching means comprises at least one controller, said at least one controller comprising queues for requests from ones of said plurality of data switching modules, said queues comprising a queue for high priority requests and a queue for low priority requests.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
37 words
The data switching system of claim 2 wherein said packets comprise data for identifying high priority packets and wherein said high priority requests comprise requests to switch a chain of packets headed by a high priority packet.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
275 words
A data switching system comprising: a data concentration/distribution stage for concentrating data packets from a plurality of sources to one of a plurality of duplex high-speed data links and for distributing data packets from one of said plurality of duplex high-speed data links to a plurality of destinations; and a hub for switching data packets among said plurality of high-speed data links; wherein said hub comprises a plurality of data switching modules for switching data packets from ones of said plurality of high-speed data links to outputs of each of said data switching modules and a circuit switch for switching from said outputs of said data switching modules to ones of said plurality of high-speed data links; wherein each of said data switching modules comprises means for chaining data packets destined for a common high-speed data link and for transmitting connection requests to said circuit switch; wherein said circuit switch comprises at least one controller comprising queues for requests from ones of said plurality of data switching modules, said queues comprising a queue for high priority requests and a queue for low priority requests; wherein said data packets comprise data for identifying high priority packets and wherein said high priority requests comprise requests to switch a chain of packets headed by a high priority packet; wherein each of said data switching modules comprises a queue for high priority circuit switch setup requests and a queue for low priority circuit switch setup requests and comprises means for transmitting to said at least one controller of said circuit switch requests from said queue for high priority requests before transmitting requests from said queue for low priority requests.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
275 words
A data switching system comprising: a data concentration/distribution stage for concentrating data packets from a plurality of sources to one of a plurality of duplex high-speed data links and for distributing data packets from one of said plurality of duplex high-speed data links to a plurality of destinations; and a hub for switching data packets among said plurality of high-speed data links; wherein said hub comprises a plurality of data switching modules for switching data packets from ones of said plurality of high-speed data links to outputs of each of said data switching modules and a circuit switch for switching from said outputs of said data switching modules to ones of said plurality of high-speed data links; wherein each of said data switching modules comprises means for chaining data packets destined for a common high-speed data link and for transmitting connection requests to said circuit switch; wherein said circuit switch comprises at least one controller comprising queues for requests from ones of said plurality of data switching modules, said queues comprising a queue for high priority requests and a queue for low priority requests; wherein said data packets comprise data for identifying high priority packets and wherein said high priority requests comprise requests to switch a chain of packets headed by a high priority packet; wherein each of said data switching modules comprises a queue for high priority circuit switch setup requests and a queue for low priority circuit switch setup requests and comprises means for transmitting to said at least one controller of said circuit switch requests from said queue for high priority requests before transmitting requests from said queue for low priority requests.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
95 words
In a data switching system, a method of transmitting data packets each to one of a plurality of outlets, comprising the steps of: chaining groups of data packets destined for a common outlet; determining for each chained group of data packets whether said group is high priority or low priority; transmitting a high priority request for a connection to a circuit switch for each chained group of data packets having high priority; and transmitting a low priority request for a connection to said circuit switch for each chained group of data packets having low priority.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
95 words
In a data switching system, a method of transmitting data packets each to one of a plurality of outlets, comprising the steps of: chaining groups of data packets destined for a common outlet; determining for each chained group of data packets whether said group is high priority or low priority; transmitting a high priority request for a connection to a circuit switch for each chained group of data packets having high priority; and transmitting a low priority request for a connection to said circuit switch for each chained group of data packets having low priority.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
38 words
The data switching system of claim 1 wherein said packets comprise data for identifying high priority packets and wherein said high priority requests comprise requests to switch a chain of packets including at least one high priority packet.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
23 words
The data switching system of claim 1 wherein each of said data packets is limited in length to a predetermined number of bits.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
28 words
The data switching system of claim 7 wherein said high priority requests further comprise requests to switch a chain of packets including at least one high priority packet.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
21 words
The data switching system of claim 4 wherein said data packets are limited in size to a predetermined number of bits.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
69 words
The method of claim 5 wherein said packets comprise data for identifying high priority packets and wherein said determining step comprises the step of determining for each data packet of a chained group of data packets whether said data packet is high priority and classifying said chained group of data packets as high priority if any of said data packets of said chained group is classified as high priority.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
71 words
The method of claim 5 wherein said packets comprise data for identifying high priority packets and wherein said determining step comprises the step of determining for a first data packet of a chained group of data packets whether said data packet is high priority and classifying said chained group of data packets as high priority if a first of said data packets of said chained group is classified as high priority.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
54 words
The method of claim 5 further comprising the steps of: following said determining step, storing a high priority request for each group determined to be high priority in a high priority request queue; and for each chained group determined to be low priority storing a low priority request in a low priority request queue.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 5 further comprising the step of: attempting to establish connections in said circuit switch in response to said high priority requests before attempting to establish connections in response to said low priority requests.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
37 words
The data switching system of claim 1 wherein said packets comprise data for identifying high priority packets and wherein said high priority requests comprise requests to switch a chain of packets including a first high priority packet.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
27 words
The data switching system of claim 7 wherein said high priority requests further comprise requests to switch a chain of packets including a first high priority packet.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
83 words
The method of claim 5 wherein said packets comprise data for identifying high priority packets and wherein said determining step comprises the step of determining for each data packet of a chained group of data packets whether said data packet is high priority and classifying said chained group of data packets as high priority if any of said data packets of said chained group is classified as high priority if a first data packet of said chained group is classified as high priority.