Merging network with three or more simultaneous inputs

Claim 1

A merging network comprising a set of network inputs for receiving m, m>2, input lists of sorted numbers, a set of network output for outputting a single list of sorted numbers formed from said input lists, a first stage comprising s comparator modules B j , j=1,2,3, . . . , s, each having one or more inputs and one or more outputs, said network inputs being connected to said inputs of said comparator modules B j , of said first stage utilizing mod(s) shuffle interconnection pattern, the outputs of each of said comparator modules B j , in said first stage being partitioned into k intervals, each of which intervals includes a subset of the outputs of the corresponding comparator module B j , a second stage comprising k comparator modules C i , i=1,2, . . . , k, each having one or more inputs and one or more outputs, the i th , interval of outputs of each of the comparator modules B j , of the first stage being connected to a subset of the inputs of the comparator module C i , of the second stage, and a third stage comprising a plurality of inputs and a plurality of outputs, each of said inputs being directly connected to a corresponding output of one of said comparator modules of said second stage and said outputs forming said network outputs, said third stage comprising k-1 comparator modules D i , i=1,2, . .. , k-1, each of said comparator modules D i having one or more inputs formed by a subset of said inputs of said third stage and one or more outputs formed by a subset of said outputs of said third stage, each of said inputs of each comparator module D i in said third stage being connected to an output of said comparator module C i , or C i+1 of said second stage.