Patent Document ID: 20020039363
Application ID: 09882087
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. An NxN expander for serving a connection request to route k incoming signals, k&lE;N, and for enabling conditionally nonblocking switching, the expander comprising a switch defined by a set of connection states and having an array of N input ports with N distinct input addresses and an array of N output ports with N distinct output addresses wherein the k incoming signals arrive at k distinct input ports determining k active input addresses and are destined for corresponding k distinct output ports determining k active output addresses, and control circuitry, coupled to the switch, for routing the incoming signals from the k distinct input ports to the corresponding k distinct output ports by activating one of the connection states such that the activated one of the connection states accommodates the connection request subject to constraints on the connection request: (1) the k active input addresses are consecutive upon a rotation of the ordering of the N input addresses, and (2) for input ports i and j being connected to output ports p and q, respectively, if i precedes j with respect to the rotated ordering, then p precedes q.