Patent ID: 7177308

Claim:
A switching system having an input and an output, each of the input and the output comprising at least one channel coupled for communicating data units, the switching system further comprising: a first communications switch and a second communications switch connected by at least one communications link, comprising at least one channel, for transmitting a plurality of data units from said communications link to the output of the switching system; a Common Time Reference (CTR), divided into a plurality of contiguous time frames (TFs); wherein the time frames have at least one of a plurality of predefined time durations; wherein each of the communications switches is further comprised of a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports, each of the input ports connected to and receiving data units from at least one of the channels, and each of the output ports connected and transmitting data units to at least one of the channels; wherein each of the communications switches has a switch controller, coupled to the CTR, the respective input ports, and the respective output ports; wherein each of the first and second communications switches has a switch fabric coupled to the respective switch controller, the respective input ports, on a respective output ports; and wherein each of the switch controllers is responsive to the CTR and to the respective predefined time durations of respective ones of the time frames, for scheduling a connection via the switch fabric from a respective one of the input ports, on a respective one of the input channels during a predefined time interval.