APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CHECKING SWITCH CHIP FAULT IN ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSFER MODE SWITCH

摘要

PURPOSE: An apparatus for checking a switch chip fault in an ATM switch is provided to count the number of cells processed within the switching fabric to compare the counted cells according to each stage, and to sense faults of switching elements to notify the faults, so as to minimize a service halt relating to each subscriber. CONSTITUTION: Input processors(100) extract address information from headers of inputted cells, and attach internal routing tags to the address information, then transmit the address information to switch elements(110) constituting the first stage. Switch elements(110) decide output ports by referring to each routing tag, and transmit the cells to the decided output ports. Output processors(120) change the address information of the received cells into addresses used in a next switch, and transmits the changed address information. Counters(130) connected to each stage count the number of cells passing each stage. A comparison circuit(140) compares the counted values after completing cell transmissions.