Patent ID: 7450795

Claim:
A modular communications switch having a first number of inputs independently couplable to a first number of outputs, the switch comprising: a selected number of substantially identical interconnect modules, each module has a second number of inputs and a second number of outputs, the second number of inputs is the same as the second number of outputs, each of the second number of inputs of a selected module is coupled to a respective one of the second number of outputs of the selected module by a separate signal path, thereby forming a plurality of paths, the paths are one of static optical signal paths, or, static electrical signal paths where each module comprises a second selected number of substantially identical static interconnect sub-modules, each sub-module has a third number of inputs and a third number of outputs, the number of inputs is the same as the number of outputs, the third number of inputs is less than the second number of inputs, each of the third number of inputs of a selected sub-module is coupled to a respective one of the third outputs of the selected sub-module by a separate static signal path.