Importance

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Abstract

A communication system and a method for communicating on a communication channel are described. A substitution switch preferably comprised of high speed multiplexer and demultiplexer integrated circuits maps failed links to redundant spare links to allow communication to continue across the channel. Where there are fewer links than there are data bits in a word to be transmitted across the channel, such as when one or more links in the channel have failed and no spare links are provided, a channel width reduction switch time multiplexes bits in a data word to allow the channel to continue operating at a rate lower than its normal full-width operating rate. To allow the channel width reduction switch to implement the time multiplexing function, a substitution switch is included in the system to map failed links to desired locations in the channel width reduction switch.

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First Claim