Patent ID: 7382185

Claim:
A loop segment switching system for switching among signal sources and signal sinks, comprising: a plurality of signal sources, each producing an output signal; a plurality of signal sinks, each signal sink normally accepting an output signal from an associated signal source and for increasing the power of said output signal to a desired level; and, a node switching system, comprising: a plurality of switch nodes, each switch node comprising a first relay, a second relay, and a third relay, associated signal sources and amplifiers normally connected to each other via said third relay, said switch nodes being normally connected in a continuous interconnecting loop from said first relay of a node to said second relay of an adjacent node; and, control means connected to said plurality of switch nodes for activating said plurality of switch nodes in order to reconnect signal sources and signal sinks from said normal connection in the event of a failure of a signal source or a signal sink, said reconnections being implemented by disconnecting a segment of said interconnecting loop and using that segment as a connection between the desired signal source and signal sink.