System and method for a multi-layer switching network

1 . A switching network, including:

a plurality of first switching assemblies, wherein each of the first switching assemblies includes at least two input ports and two output ports; and

a plurality of second switching assemblies, each of the first switching assemblies of the plurality of first switching assemblies selectively coupled to at least two second switching assemblies of the plurality of second switching assemblies, each of the second switching assemblies of the plurality of second switching assemblies selectively coupled to at least two first switching assemblies of the plurality of first switching assemblies, such that

data received as an input in one of the input ports to be delivered to one of the output ports

is passed twice in a forward direction, through a first one of the first switching assembly of the plurality of first switching assemblies and a first one of the second switching assembly of the plurality of second switching assemblies;

is passed twice in a reverse direction, through a second one of the second switching assembly of the plurality of second switching assemblies and a second one of the first switching assembly of the plurality of first switching assemblies; and

the data received as the input in the one of the input ports is delivered as an output at the one of the output ports.

2 . The switching network of claim 1 , wherein,

each of the plurality of first switching assemblies including

a first forward element, the first forward element configured to receive at least four first forward element inputs and present at least two first forward element outputs, and

a first reverse element, the first reverse element configured to receive at least two first reverse element inputs and present at least four first reverse element outputs;

each of the plurality of second switching assemblies including

a second forward element, the second forward element configured to receive at least two second forward element inputs and present at least four second forward element outputs, and

a second reverse element, the second reverse element configured to receive at least four second reverse element inputs and present at least two second reverse element outputs;

a selective one output of the at least four first forward element outputs of the selective one of the first switching elements of the plurality of first switching elements is presented as an input to a selective one input of the at least two second forward element inputs of the selective one of the second switching elements of the plurality of second switching elements; and

a selective one output of the at least two second reverse element outputs of the selective one of the second switching elements of the plurality of second switching elements is presented as an input to a selective one input of the at least two first reverse element inputs of a selective one of the first switching elements of the plurality of plurality of switching elements.

3 . The switching network of claim 2 , wherein,

the first forward element including a first input selector coupled to a first forward switch, wherein the first input selector is configured to receive the at least four first forward element inputs, and wherein, the first input selector selectively presents two of the at least four first forward element inputs to the first forward switch; and

the first reverse element including a first reverse switch coupled to a first output selector, wherein the first reverse switch is configured to receive the at least two first reverse element inputs and present the at least two first reverse element inputs to the first output selector and the first output selector is configured to selectively output the at least two first reverse element inputs in two of the at least four first reverse element outputs.

4 . The switching network of claim 2 , wherein,

the second forward element including a second forward switch coupled to a second output selector, wherein the second forward switch is configured to receive the at least two second forward element inputs and present the at least two second forward element inputs as inputs to the second output selector, and wherein, the second output selector selectively presents the at least two second forward element inputs as two of the at least four second forward element outputs; and

the second reverse element including a second input selector coupled to a second reverse switch, wherein the second input selector is configured to receive the at least four second reverse element inputs and present two of the at least four second reverse element inputs as inputs to the second reverse switch, and wherein, the second reverse switch is configured to selectively presents the two of the at least four second reverse element inputs as two outputs of the second reverse element.

5 . The switching network of claim 4 , wherein, two of the at least four second forward element outputs of the second forward element are looped back as two of the at least four second reverse element inputs of the second reverse element.

6 . The switching network of claim 1 , wherein,

the switching network includes a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports, wherein the plurality of input ports are equal to the plurality of output ports, with n number of input ports and n number of output ports;

a first layer defined by a bank of plurality of first switching assemblies;

a last layer defined by a bank of plurality of second switching assemblies;

when a value of L is determined by log 2 n divided by 2, rounded to the next integer value is greater than two, one or more additional intermediate layers are disposed between the first layer and the last layer, with each intermediate layer including a plurality of intermediate switching assemblies, wherein, the sum of first layer, last layer and one or more intermediate layers are equal to L.

7 . The switching network of claim 6 , wherein,

two adjacent layers form a pair of adjacent layers,

a pair of first adjacent layer formed by the first layer and the intermediate layer,

a pair of second adjacent layer formed by the intermediate layer and the last layer,

a selective plurality of switching assemblies in the pair of first adjacent layers defining a group,

wherein, each group including two of first switching assemblies and two of intermediate switching assemblies;

output of two of first switching assemblies and inputs of two of intermediate switching assemblies in each group are selectively coupled;

output of two of intermediate switching assemblies and inputs of two of first switching assemblies in each group are selectively coupled;

a selective plurality of switching assemblies in the pair of second adjacent layers defining another group, wherein, each another group including four of intermediate switching assemblies and four of second switching assemblies;

output of selective subset of four of intermediate switching assemblies and inputs of four of second switching assemblies in each of the another group are selectively coupled;

output of selective subset of four of second switching assemblies and inputs of a selective subset of four of intermediate switching assemblies in each of the another group are selectively coupled;

selective outputs of selective subset of plurality of second switching assemblies and selective inputs of a selective subset of plurality of first switching assemblies are selectively coupled, based on a forward input matrix; and

selective outputs of selective subset of plurality of first switching assemblies and selective inputs of a selective subset of plurality of second switching assemblies are selectively coupled, based on a reverse input matrix.

8 . The switching network of claim 7 , wherein,

additional other groups are defined by other selective subsets of two of first switching assemblies and other selective subsets of two of intermediate switching assemblies in the pair of first adjacent layer;

selective outputs of selective subset of two first switching assemblies and selective inputs of a selective subset of two intermediate switching assemblies in each of the other groups are selectively coupled;

selective outputs of selective subset of two of intermediate switching assemblies and selective inputs of a selective subset of two of first switching assemblies in each of the other groups are selectively coupled;

additional other another groups are defined by other selective subsets of four of intermediate switching assemblies and other selective subsets of four of second switching assemblies in the pair of second adjacent layer;

selective outputs of selective subset of four of intermediate switching assemblies and selective inputs of a selective subset of four of second switching assemblies in each of the other another groups are selectively coupled;

selective outputs of selective subset of four of second switching assemblies and selective inputs of a selective subset of four of intermediate switching assemblies in each of the other another groups are selectively coupled;

selective outputs of selective subset of plurality of second switching assemblies and selective inputs of a selective subset of plurality of first switching assemblies in each of the other groups are selectively coupled, based on the forward input matrix; and

selective outputs of selective subset of plurality of first switching assemblies and selective inputs of a selective subset of plurality of second switching assemblies in each of the other groups are selectively coupled, based on the reverse input matrix.

9 . The switching network of claim 6 , wherein,

the data received as the input in one of the input ports

passes twice in a forward direction, through a selective one of the first switching

assemblies of the plurality of first switching assemblies in the first layer, a selective one of the intermediate switching assemblies of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies in the intermediate layer, and a selective one of the second switching assemblies of the plurality of second switching assemblies in the last layer;

passes twice in a reverse direction, through a selective one of the second switching assemblies of the plurality of second switching assemblies in the last layer, selective one of the intermediate switching assemblies of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies in the intermediate layer and a selective one of the first switching assemblies of the plurality of first switching assemblies in the first layer; and

the data received as the input comes out of a selective one of the first switching assemblies of the plurality of first switching assemblies in the first layer, as an output in one of the output ports.

10 . The switching assembly of claim 1 , wherein, a path in the forward direction through the first one of the first switching assembly of the plurality of first switching assemblies and the first one of the second switching assembly of the plurality of second switching assemblies is independent of a path in the reverse direction through the second one of the second switching assembly of the plurality of second switching assemblies and the second one of the first switching assembly of the plurality of first switching assemblies.

11 . The switching network of claim 1 , wherein, the first one of the first switching assemblies of the plurality of first switching assemblies and the second one of the first switching assemblies of the plurality of first switching assemblies are same.

12 . The switching network of claim 1 , wherein, the first one of the second switching assemblies of the plurality of second switching assemblies and the second one of the second switching assemblies of the plurality of second switching assemblies are same.

13 . A method for a switching network, including:

providing a plurality of first switching assemblies, wherein each of the first switching assemblies includes at least two input ports and two output ports;

providing a plurality of second switching assemblies;

selectively coupling each of the first switching assemblies to at least two second switching assemblies;

selectively coupling each of the second switching assemblies to at least two first switching assemblies;

processing data received as an input in one of the input ports to be delivered to one of the output ports by

receiving data as an input in one of the input ports;

passing received data twice in a forward direction, through a first one of the first switching assembly of the plurality of first switching assemblies and a first one of the second switching assembly of the plurality of second switching assemblies;

passing received data twice in a reverse direction, through a second one of the second switching assembly of the plurality of second switching assemblies and a second one of the first switching assembly of the plurality of first switching assemblies; and presenting the received data as an output at the one of the output ports.

14 . The method for a switching network of claim 13 , wherein, a path followed by the received data in the forward direction through the first one of the first switching assembly of the plurality of first switching assemblies and the first one of the second switching assembly of the plurality of second switching assemblies is independent of a path followed by the received data in the reverse direction through the second one of the second switching assembly of the plurality of second switching assemblies and the second one of the first switching assembly of the plurality of first switching assemblies.

15 . The method for a switching network of claim 14 , further including, disposing a plurality of intermediate switching assemblies between the plurality of first switching assemblies and the plurality of second switching assemblies;

selectively coupling selective two of the plurality of first switching assemblies of the plurality of first switching assemblies with a selective two of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies;

selectively coupling selective four of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies with a selective four of the plurality of second switching assemblies of the plurality of second switching assemblies;

passing received data twice in a forward direction, through the first one of the first switching assembly of the plurality of first switching assemblies and the first one of the second switching assembly of the plurality of second switching assemblies, through a selective one of the intermediate switching assemblies of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies;

passing received data twice in a reverse direction, through the second one of the second switching assembly of the plurality of second switching assemblies and the second one of the first switching assembly of the plurality of first switching assemblies, through a selective one of the intermediate switching assemblies of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies; and presenting the received data as the output at the output port.

16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein, the first one of the first switching assemblies of the plurality of first switching assemblies and the second one of the first switching assemblies of the plurality of first switching assemblies are same.

17 . The method of claim 13 , wherein, the first one of the second switching assemblies of the plurality of second switching assemblies and the second one of the second switching assemblies of the plurality of second switching assemblies are same.

18 . A switching network, including:

a plurality of first switching assemblies, wherein each of the first switching assemblies includes at least two input ports and two output ports;

a plurality of second switching assemblies;

a plurality of intermediate switching assemblies;

a bank of first switching assemblies defining a first layer;

a bank of second switching assemblies defining a last layer,

wherein, one or more banks of intermediate switching assemblies defining one or more intermediate layers, one or more intermediate layers disposed between the first layer and the last layer, a first intermediate layer defined by the intermediate layer adjacent to the first layer, and a last intermediate layer defined by the intermediate layer adjacent to the last layer, wherein,

a first pair of adjacent layers defined by the first layer and the first intermediate layer,

a last pair adjacent layers defined by the last intermediate layer and the last layer, and wherein,

each of the first switching assemblies of the plurality of first switching assemblies in the first pair of adjacent layers is selectively coupled to at least two intermediate switching assemblies of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies in the first pair of adjacent layers;

each of the intermediate switching assemblies of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies in the last pair of adjacent layers is selectively coupled to at least two of the second switching assemblies of the plurality of second switching assemblies in the last layer;

each of the intermediate switching assemblies in one or more additional intermediate layers disposed between the first intermediate layer and the last intermediate layer are selectively coupled to at least two of the intermediate switching assemblies of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies in an adjacent one of the one or more additional intermediate layers disposed between the first intermediate layer and the last intermediate layer;

each of the intermediate switching assemblies of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies in the first intermediate layer is selectively coupled to at least two of the intermediate switching assemblies of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies in an adjacent one of the one or more additional intermediate layers disposed adjacent to the first intermediate layer;

each of the intermediate switching assemblies of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies in an adjacent one of the one or more additional intermediate layers disposed adjacent to the last intermediate layer is selectively coupled to at least two of the intermediate switching assemblies of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies in the last intermediate layer;

process data received as an input in one of the input ports to be delivered to one of the output ports, wherein,

the received data is passed twice in a forward direction, through a first one of the first switching assembly of the plurality of first switching assemblies, a first intermediate switching assembly of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies and a first one of the second switching assembly of the plurality of second switching assemblies;

the received data passes twice in a reverse direction, through a second one of the second switching assemblies of the plurality of second switching assemblies, a second intermediate switching assembly of the plurality of intermediate switching assemblies, and a second one of the first switching assembly of the plurality of first switching assemblies; and

the received data is delivered to the output port.

19 . The switching network of claim 18 , wherein, the first one of the first switching assembly of the plurality of first switching assemblies and the second one of the first switching assembly of the plurality of first switching assemblies are same.

20 . The switching network of claim 18 , wherein, the first one of the second switching assembly of the plurality of second switching assemblies and the second one of the second switching assembly of the plurality of second switching assemblies are same.