Patent ID: 7701892

Claim:
A system operable to communicate time-division multiplexed information, comprising: a primary rate switching fabric operable to receive a first plurality of transport signals and to switch the first plurality of transport signals at a first level; a sub-rate switching fabric operable to receive a second plurality of transport signals carrying time-division multiplexed information and to switch the second plurality of transport signals at second level that is a more granular level than the first level; a signal distributor operable to receive the first and second pluralities of transport signals and to communicate each of the pluralities of transport signals to its associated switching fabric; a signal selector operable to receive switched transport signals from the primary rate switching fabric and the sub-rate switching fabric and to facilitate transmission of the switched transport signals to external network elements wherein the signal selector comprises: and a third time slot interchange operable to receive switched transport signals from the sub-rate switching fabric, and to associate the switched transport signals with time slots on which the transport signals were originally received in the second time slot interchange; and a multiplexer operable to receive switched transport signals from the primary rate switching fabric and the third time slot interchange, and to select a set of switched transport signals for transmission.