A Signal Distributor for Electronic Switching Systems

The signal distributor is the means of distributing action signals in the experimental electronic switching system (Fig. I). The central control processes the necessary information, employing high-speed low-power electronic circuits. The signal distributor converts the highspeed low-power signals received from the central control into low-speed high-power signals required for certain operations in the system. The control of supervision or dial pulsing in trunk circuits constitutes the major part of these operations, and control of various maintenance circuits within the administration center is one of the other miscellaneous operations in the electronic switching system that is performed by the signal distributor. The signal distributor consists of a selector driving a large group of flip-flops with associated amplifiers (Fig. 2). The amplifiers have sufficient power capacity to operate relays where necessary. The flip-flops permit output signals of long duration. They act as memory elements, accepting two high-speed signals from the selector which designate the starting and ending times of the output signal. The selector performs the translation of a binary address received from the central control. I I . FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS