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Abstract

Disclosed is a distributed prioritized concentrator that manages the flow of information through high data rate communications paths. The concentrator accumulates incoming packets as necesary, sorts the accumulated packets in parallel based on the relative priority of the packets, and transmits as many of its highest priority packets as there are available communication channels. In its simplest form the prioritized concentrator comprises a parallel sorting network having some of its inputs connected to accept incoming signal packets and the remaining ones of its inputs connected to outputs of delay elements. A number of the highest priority sorting network outputs are connected to outgoing communication channels, a number of lower priority sorting network outputs are connected to inputs of the delay elements and the remaining number of lowest priority sorting network outputs are left unconnected. More sophisticated forms which add various capabilities are also disclosed.

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First Claim