Patent ID: 8064433

Claim:
A switching system for carrier sensed transmission, comprising: a switch comprising a plurality of inputs and outputs interconnected by a network of transmission links; out-of-band controllers configured such that requests-to-send provided to the inputs of the switch are routed and arbitrated for clearance of sending in consecutive said transmission links of a first path forming a connection between a requesting said input to a requested said output; and wherein the out-of-band controllers are configured to complete the connection if spatially and conjunctively the transmission links of the first path are sensed not to have a carrier as represented by the out-of-band controllers, wherein the out-of-band controllers comprise: an address decoder for each said switch input constructed as a demultiplexer through which said request-to-send messages are routed according to a destination output address; and a contention resolution multiplexer; wherein the contention resolution multiplexer is configured to provide a conflict resolution process wherein the request-to-send messages from different said inputs for a common said output are grouped as inputs to the contention resolution multiplexer through which contending said request-to-send messages are resolved first come first served.