EXPANDABLE TIME SLOT INTERCHANGER

摘要

A transmission scheme serially propagates time slot data to a plurality of TSI modules with time slot data contained in one TSI frame being serially transmitted from module to module in a daisy-chain technique. A dedicated outbound transmission bus transmits the frame of data from one module to a dedicated inbound transmission bus of another module. The outbound and inbound data buses are connected by separate buses on a backplane which is coupled to each of the TSI modules. Preferably, the TSI modules do not transmit selected ones of the stored data to end destinations until the last TSI module has received the frame of data so that all modules can begin the transmission in time synchronization. Maximum transfer data rates can be achieved since undesired transmission line characteristics or disruptions are minimized by the use of dedicated input and output transfer buses between the modules. Additional modules can be added without disrupting the transmission data rate between existing modules, thereby permitting a growable TSI facility without adversely impacting the data transmission rate between modules.