Sprint International Communications Corporation

Anthony J Frankish

John A Stockdale

Ian B Stewart

A technique for interconnecting line processing units (LPUs) of a packet switch and/or data concentrator system in which, instead of using a standard bus system, each LPU has a number of duplex point to point serial links that are connected in either a random or structured manner to provide a network of routes between the LPUs. Information is then transferred between source and destination LPUs as short packets. When the system is expanded by adding more LPUs, the network of serial point to point links expands to provide more routes and, hence, greater bandwidth to handle the increased information flow. Failure of a link in the network is not catastrophic as there are a number of different routes to any LPU and the system only degrades systematically in the event of link failures.

Growing community of inventors

Poole, United Kingdom

Anthony J Frankish