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Abstract

A crosspoint matrix switching element and associated method for a large (e.g. approximately 1 Terabit/second) packet switch (200) or a non-buffer based statistical multiplexor (1810), using a crossbar matrix network in which, first, the output ports of individual switching elements (e.g. 1340.sub.1,1, 1340.sub.2,1) are partitioned into various groups (e.g. 1110) in order to share routing paths (links) (e.g. 1115.sub.1, 1115.sub.2, . . . , 1115.sub.K) among the elements in any such group and, second, the outputs of each such group are themselves recursively partitioned into a succession of serially connected groups (e.g. 1140, 1160) that each provides a decreasing number of outputs until one such output is provided for each corresponding output port (278.sub.1, 278.sub.2, . . . , 278.sub.N) of the switch. The switching element includes a control circuit which compares corresponding bits of two incoming bit streams in specific time windows to generate control signals and a routing circuit responsive to the control signals for routing the two input bit streams alternatively to two data outputs.

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