Patent · US Expired

Apparatus for programmable signal switching

US5710550A · kind A · utility

17Cited by
7References
18Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 17, 1995
Grant dateJan 20, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 17, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04Q11/0478
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A field programmable interconnect device (FPID) selectively routes signals between signal ports in response to commands from a host controller. Each command includes an address and data. The FPID includes an array of switch cells, each interconnecting a separate pair of the ports and each having first and second control signal inputs. When the first and second control signals are both asserted, the switch cell provides a signal path between the pair of the ports it interconnects. The FPID includes first and second sets of memory cells for storing data. Each first memory cell corresponds to a separate one of the switch cells and selectively asserts or deasserts the first control signal input to the corresponding switch cell according to its stored data. Each second memory cell corresponds to a separate group of switch cells and selectively asserts or deasserts the second control signal input to each switch cell of the corresponding group according to its stored data. The FPID further includes a memory controller for receiving each command from the host controller and for writing data included in the command into each memory cell of a particular subset of the first and second memory …

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.