Patent Document ID: 6021131
Application ID: 08889632
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A sorting network B.sub.n, comprising: network inputs for receiving a vector of 2.sup.n input signals representing corresponding values; network outputs for providing 2.sup.n sorted signals representing the 2.sup.n input signals sorted according to their values; a plurality of comparison circuits, wherein: each said comparison circuit has two inputs and two outputs; each said comparison circuit has a network depth, said network depths having an order from minimum to maximum; said circuit plurality is arranged in grid columns by network depth; network inputs are connected to circuits having minimum network depth; the two outputs of each said comparison circuit are connected to the inputs of comparison circuits having greater network depth, if there are any; comparison circuits having maximum network depth are connected to the network outputs; the comparison circuits are arranged in functional groupings including sorters and mergers, wherein: said functional groupings are arranged in a manner defined by a recursive structure of the sorting network; mergers having comparison circuits of similar network depth are stacked in identical grid columns that include 1/4(2.sup.n) mergers of a kind that comprises four comparison circuits, said mergers to be referred to as M.sub.2 mergers, and further wherein: each merger M.sub.2 is laid out using five grid rows.