Patent ID: 7751566

Claim:
A system providing communication at multiple levels of security for associated apparatus, said associated apparatus including a plurality of ports and a plurality of channels, wherein each of said ports and channels is labeled with a respective designated security level and each of said ports is only permitted to communicate with a channel having a predetermined designated security level matching the designated security level of said each of said ports, said system comprising; a bus for connection to all of said ports and channels; a plurality of switch units each associated with a respective one of said plurality of ports and channels and each coupled between said bus and said respective one of said plurality of ports and channels; a clock and sync circuit operative to provide configuration signals on said bus to define a plurality of time slots; and a high assurance source connected to said bus and operative to: a) assign a transmit time slot and a receive time slot to a selected port switch unit; and b) assign a transmit time slot and a receive time slot to a selected channel switch unit; wherein a transmit time slot for said selected port switch unit is the same as a receive time slot for said selected channel switch unit, and a receive time slot for said selected port switch unit is the same as a transmit time slot for said selected channel switch unit, only when the port associated with said selected port switch unit and the channel associated with said selected channel switch unit have a matching designated security level; and wherein: said bus includes a data bus and a control bus; said clock and sync circuit is operative to provide said configuration signals on said data bus; and said high assurance source is operative to assign said time slots to said port switch units and said channel switch units over said control bus.