Communication system control arrangement

• US 4,713,806 A
• Filed: 03/14/1986
• Issued: 12/15/1987
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/1986
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Spicer, David A., Oberlander, Lewis B., Straubs, Ralph V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Masinick, Michael A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chin, Wellington
• Application Number:
  US06/840,458
• Time in Patent Office: 641 Days
• Field of Search: 370/58, 370/60, 379/88, 379/89, 379/94, 379/269, 379/284
• US Class Current: 370/358
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0407 using a stored programme control

Abstract

In a multiservices digital network (FIG. 1), comprising separate narrowband switch (607) and wideband switches (505, 606), the network control complex (612) includes a program-controlled call processing arrangement (800) that is program-independent of a resource management arrangement (803) and of the physical network. The call processing arrangement views the network as comprising logical channels and logical call paths interconnecting logical channels. It does not distinguish between narrowband and wideband communications; it responds to subscriber (102) messages requesting subscriber functions for both narrowband and wideband communications by directing the resource management arrangement to establish and dismantle logical call paths and to create and destroy logical and physical connections between the logical channels and the logical call paths. The resource management arrangement distinguishes between narrowband and wideband communications; it responds to the directions by allocating and deallocating either narrowband or wideband network physical resources, as appropriate, for physical channels and physical call paths corresponding to the logical channels and the logical call paths, and directs either wideband switch controllers (507, 610) or narrowband switch controller (611), as appropriate, in creating and destroying the requested logical and physical connections between the channel and call path resources. The call processing arrangement is thus made independent of network physical resources, while the resource management arrangement is made independent of subscriber functions.

Claims

1. A control arrangement for a communication switching system having first and second communication networks configurable independently from each other separately to provide first and second communications, respectively, for terminal logical channels of the system, the system further including first and second network control means for configuring the first and the second networks, respectively, in response to receipt of requirements signals, the control arrangement comprising:

first program controlled means cooperative with both the first and the second network control means and operable in response to receipt of requirements signals and associated signals indicating the first communications for generating requirements signals for controlling the operation of the first network control means to configure the first network into at least one of (a) physical communication channels corresponding to the logical channels, and (b) physical communication paths betweenthe physical channels and corresponding to logical communication paths, and being further operable in response to receipt of requirements signals and associated signals indicating the second communications for generating requirements signals for controlling the operation of the second network control means to configure the second network into at least one of (a) physical communication channels corresponding to the logical channels, and (b) physical communication paths between the physical channels and corresponding to logical communication paths; and

second program controlled means independent in program from the first program controlled means and operable in response to receipt of call signals and associated signals indicating either one of the first and the second communications for any one of the logical channels for processing call information to generate, both independently of and for association with the first or the second communication indicating signals, the requirements signals for controlling the operation of the first program controlled means to establish the logical communication paths between the one logical channel and another at least one logical channel, independently of both the first and the second networks and the first and the second network control means.

2. A control arrangement for a communication switching system having first and second physical resources configurable independently from each other separately to provide first and second communications, respectively, for terminal logical channels of the system, the first physical resources including a first switch having a plurality of ports connected to physical channels for corresponding to terminal logical channels, and the second physical resources including a second switch having a plurality of ports and a third switch having a plurality of ports some connected to ports of the second switch and others connected to portions of physical channels corresponding to terminal logical channels, the system further including a first controller responsive to receipt of requirements signals for configuring the first switch into switch paths between selected first switch ports, and a second and a third controller each responsive to receipt of requirements signals for configuring the second and the third switch, respectively, into switch paths between selected ports of the second and the third switch, respectively, the control arrangement comprising:

first program controlled means cooperative with the first, the second, and the third controllers and operable in response to receipt of requirements signals and associated signals indicating the first communications for (a) selecting ports of the first switch for physical communication paths corresponding to logical communication paths and (b) generating independently of the first switch requirements signals for controlling the operation of the first controller to establish switch paths through the first switch between the selected ports of the first switch, and further operable in response to receipt of requirements signals and associated signals indicating the second communications for (a) selecting ports of the second switch and of the third switch for physical communications paths corresponding to logical communication paths and for physical communication channels corresponding to the logical channels, respectively, and (b) generating independently of the second and the third switches first and second requirements signals for controlling the operation of the second and the third controller, respectively, to establish switch paths through the second and the third switch, respectively, between the selected ports of the second switch and of the third switch, respectively; and

second program controlled means independent in program from the first program controlled means and operable in response to receipt of call signals and associated signals indicating either one of the first and the second communications for any one of the logical channels for processing call information to generate, both independently of and for association with the first or the second communication indicating signals, the requirements signals for controlling the operation of the first program controlled means to establish the logical communication paths between the one logical channel and another at least one logical channel, independently of both the first and the second physical resources and the first, the second, and the third controllers.

3. A control arrangement for a communication switching system having first and second physical resources configurable independently from each other separately to provide first and second communications, respectively, for terminal logical channels of the system, the system further including first and second resource control means for configuring the first and the second resources, respectively, in response to receipt of requirement signals, the control arrangement comprising:

first program controlled means cooperative with both the first and the second resource control means and operable in response to receipt of requirements signals and associated signals indicating the first communications for both (a) allocating the first resources for at least one of (i) physical communication channels corresponding to the logical channels, and (ii) physical communication paths between the physical channels corresponding to logical communication paths, and (b) generating requirements signals for controlling the operation of the first resource control means to establish logical and physical connections between the allocated first physical resources, and further operable in response to receipt of requirements signals and associated signals indicating the second communications for both (a) allocating the second physical resources for at least one of (i) physical communication channels corresponding to the logical channels, and (ii) physical communication paths between the physical channels corresponding to logical communciation paths, and (b) generating requirements signals for controlling the operation of the second resource control means to establish logical and physical connections between the allocated second physical resources; and

second program controlled means independent in program from the first program controlled means and operable in response to receipt of call signals and associated signals indicating either one of the first and the second communications for any one of the logical channels for processing call information to generate, both independently of and for association with the first or the second communication indicating signals, the requirements signals for controlling the operation of the first program controlled means to both establish and control the logical communciation paths between the one logical channel and another at least one logical channel, independently of both the first and the second physical resources and the first and the second resource control means.

4. The arrangement of claim 3 for a system having first physical resources including a first switch having a plurality of ports connected to physical channels corresponding to terminal logical channels, and further having second physical resources including a second switch having a plurality of ports and a third switch having a plurality of ports some connected to ports of the second switch and others connected to portions of physical channels corresponding to terminal logical channels, the system further including a first controller for configuring the first switch into switch paths between selected first switch ports, and a second and a third controller for configuring the second and the third switch, respectively, into switch paths between selected ports of the second and the third switch, respectively, wherein

the first means are operable in response to receipt from the second program controlled means of the requirements signals and the associated signals indicating the first communications for both (a) allocating first switch ports to the logical paths and (b) generating independently of the first switch requirements signals for controlling the operation of the first resource control means to establish connections between the allocated first switch ports, and are further operable in response to receipt from the second program controlled means of the requirements signals and the associated signals indicating the second communications for both (a) allocating third switch ports for the physical channels corresponding to the logical channels and allocating second switch ports for the physical paths corresponding to the logical paths and (b) generating independently of the second and the third switch requirements signals for controlling the operation of the second and the third resource control means to establish logical and physical connections between the allocated second switch ports and between the allocated third switch ports, respectively.

5. A control arrangement for a communication switching system having narrowband and wideband physical resources configurable independently from each other each separately to provide narrowband and wideband communications, respectively, for terminal logical channels of the system, the system further including narrowband and wideband resource control means for configuring the narrowband and the wideband resources, respectively, in response to receipt of requirements signals, the control arrangement comprising

program controlled resource management means cooperative with both the narrowband and the wideband resource control means and operable in response to receipt of requirements signals and associated signals indicating narrowband communications for processing narrowband resource information both (a) to allocate narrowband physical resources for at least one of (i) physical communication channels corresponding to the logical channels and (ii) physical communication paths between the physical channels and corresponding to logical call paths, to establish the logical channels and call paths, and (b) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the narrowband resource control means to establish connections between allocated narrowband physical resources for control of the logical call paths, and further operable in response to receipt of requirements signals and associated signals indicating wideband communications for processing wideband resource information both (a) to allocate wideband physical resources for at least one of (i) physical communication channels corresponding to the logical channels and (ii) physical communication paths between the physical channels and corresponding to logical call paths, to establish the logical channels and call paths, and to (b) generate requirements signals for controlling the generation of the wideband resource control means to establish connections between allocated wideband physical resources for control of the logical call paths;

and

program controlled call processing means independent in program from the resource management means and operable in response to receipt of call signals and associated signals indicating either one of the narrowband and the wideband communications for any one of the logical channels for processing call information to generate, both independently of and for association with the narrowband or the wideband indicating signals, the requirements signals for controlling the operation of the resource management means to both establish and control the logical call paths between the one logical channel and another at least one logical channel, independently of both the narrowband and the wideband physical resources and the narrowband and the wideband resource control means.

6. The arrangement of claim 5 wherein

the call processing means generate, both independently of and for association with the band-indicating signals, requirements signals for controlling the operation of the resource management means to both (a) establish the logical call paths, and (b) establish logical and physical connections between the logical call paths and the logical channels for controlling the logical call paths;

and wherein

the resource management means are operable in response to receipt from the call processing means of the requirements signals and the associated narrowband or wideband indicating signals for processing narrowband or wideband resource information, respectively, (a) to establish resource management logical structures for the logical channels and the logical call paths to establish the logical channels and call paths, (b) to allocate narrowband or wideband physical resources, respectively, to the logical channel structures for physical channels and to the logical call path structures for physical call paths between the physical channels, to establish the logical connections, and (c) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the narrowband or the wideband resource control means, respectively, to establish connections between the resources allocated to the structures for establishment of the physical connections.

7. The arrangement of claim 6 for a system having narrowband resources including a narrowband switch having a plurality of ports for interconnection by switch paths internal to the narrowband switch, a plurality of physical channels connected to ports of the narrowband switch, and further having wideband resources including a first wideband switch having a plurality of ports for interconnection by switch paths internal to the first wideband switch and a second wideband switch having a plurality of ports for interconnection by switch paths internal to the second wideband switch, some second switch ports connected to ports of the first wideband switch and others connected to portions of physical channels, the system further including a narrowband switch controller for configuring the narrowband switch into switch paths between selected narrowband switch ports, and a first and a second wideband switch controller for configuring the first and the second wideband switch, respectively, into switch paths between selected ports of the first and the second wideband switch, respectively, wherein

the resource management means are operable in response to receipt from the call processing means of the requirements signals and associated signals indicating narrowband communications for processing narrowband resource information (a) to establish the logical channel and logical path structures, (b) to allocate the physical channels to the logical channel structures and to allocate the first switch ports to the logical path structures, and (c) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the narrowband switch controller to establish switch paths to the first switch ports allocated to the established structures for establishment of physical connections, and are further operable in response to receipt from the call processing means of the requirements signals and associated signals indicating wideband communications for processing wideband resource information (a) to establish the logical channel and logical path structures, (b) to allocate the second wideband switch ports to the logical channel structures and to allocate the first wideband switch ports to the logical path structures, and (c) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the first and the second wideband controller to establish switch paths to the first and the second wideband switch ports, respectively, allocated to the established structures for establishment of physical connections.

8. The arrangement of claim 6 for a system having pre-established physical paths corresponding to logical paths leading to certain ones of the logical channels, wherein

the resource management means are operable in response to receipt from the call processing means of the requirements signals and associated signals indicating narrowband or wideband communications between one of the certain logical channels and another at least one logical channel for processing narrowband or wideband resource information, respectively, (a) to establish the logical channel structures for establishment of the logical channels, (b) to allocate narrowband or wideband physical resources for physical channels connecting to the pre-established physical call paths for establishment of logical connections, and (c) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the narrowband or the wideband resource control means, respectively, to establish connections between the resources allocated to the channel structures and the pre-established paths for establishment of physical connections, and are further operable in response to receipt from the call processing means of requirements signals and associated signals indicating the narrowband or the wideband communications, respectively, between channels other than the certain logical channels for processing narrowband or wideband resource information, respectively, (a) to establish the logical structures for the logical channels and the logical call paths for establishment of the logical channels and call paths, (b) to allocate the narrowband or the wideband physical resources, respectively, to the logical channel structures for physical channels and to the logical call path structures for physical call paths between the physical channels, for establishment of the logical connections, and (c) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the narrowband or the wideband resource control means, respectively, to establish connections between the resources allocated to the structures for establishment of the physical connections.

9. The arrangement of claim 5 wherein

the call processing means comprise

first and second process means for controlling a calling and a called end of a call, respectively, each process means operable in response to receipt of call signals and associated signals indicating either one of narrowband and wideband communications, for processing call information to generate, both independently of and for association with the narrowband and the wideband indicative signals, requirements signals for controlling the operation of the resource management means to both establish and control a logical call path to the logical channel at its end of the call, and

means responsive to receipt of the call signals for creating the first and the second process means for the call;

and wherein

the resource management means are operable in response to receipt from the first and the second process means of the requirements signals and associated signals indicating the narrowband or the wideband communications, for processing narrowband or wideband resource respectively, both (a) to allocate the narrowband or wideband physical resources, respectively, for at least one of (i) physical channels corresponding to the logical channels and (ii) physical call paths leading to the physical channels and corresponding to the logical call paths, for establishment thereof and (b) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the narrowband or the wideband resource control means, respectively, to establish connections between the physical resources allocated to the logical call paths for control of the logical call paths.

10. The arrangement of claim 9 wherein

the call processing means further comprise third process means for controlling a logical conference by coupling logical call paths of a plurality of call ends to a logical channel, the third process means operable in response to receipt of call signals and associated signals indicating narrowband or wideband communications for processing call information to generate, both independently of and for association with the narrowband or the wideband indicating signals, respectively, requirements signals for controlling the operation of the resource management means to both establish and control logical conference paths between the logical channel and the coupled logical call paths;

wherein

the process creating means are further responsive to receipt of the call signals for creating the third process means for the conference; and

wherein

the resource management means are further operable in response to receipt from the third process means of the requirements signals and associated signals indicating the narrowband or the wideband communications for processing narrowband or wideband resource information, respectively, both (a) to allocate the narrowband or the wideband physical resources, respectively, for physical conference paths between the physical call paths and the physical channel and corresponding to the logical conference paths for establishment thereof and (b) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the narrowband or the wideband resource control means, respectively, to establish connections between the physical resources allocated to the logical conference paths for control of the conference paths.

11. The arrangement of claim 10 wherein

the first, second, and third process means of the call processing means each generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the resource management means both (a) to establish logical paths, and (b) to establish logical and physical connections between the logical paths and the logical channels for controlling the logical paths;

and wherein

the resource management means are operable in response to receipt from the first, second, and third process means of the requirements signals and associated signals indicating narrowband or wideband communications, for processing narrowband or wideband resource information, respectively, (a) to establish resource management logical structures for the logical channels and the logical call and conference paths for establishment of the logical channels and paths, (b) to allocate narrowband or wideband physical resources, respectively, to the logical channel path structures for physical channels and to the logical call and conference path structures for physical call and conference paths, respectively, for establishment of the logical connections, and (c) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the narrowband or the wideband resource control means, respectively, to establish connections between the resources allocated to the respective structures for establishment of the physical connections.

12. The arrangement of claim 9 wherein

the first and the second process means of the call processing means each generate, both independently of and for association with the band-indicating signals, requirements signals for controlling the operation of the resource management means both (a) to establish logical call paths, and (b) to establish logical and physical connections between the logical call paths and the logical channels for controlling the logical call paths;

and wherein

the resource management means are operable in response to receipt from the first and the second process means of the requirements signals and the associated narrowband or wideband indicating signals for processing narrowband or wideband resource information, respectively, (a) to establish resource management logical structures for the logical channels and the logical call paths for establishment of the logical channels and call paths, (b) to allocate narrowband or wideband physical resources, respectively, to the logical channel structures for physical channels and to logical call path structures for physical call paths, for establishment of the logical connections, and (c) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the narrowband or the wideband resource control means, respectively, to establish connections between the resources allocated to the respective structures for establishment of the physical connections.

13. The arrangement of claim 12 wherein

the call processing means further comprise

third process means for controlling a plurality of calls, operable in response to receipt of call signals and associated signals indicating narrowband or wideband communications for calls to certain ones of the logical channels for processing call information to generate, both independently of and for association with the narrowband or the wideband indicating signals, requirements signals for controlling the operation of the resource management means to control logical call paths between the one logical channel and the certain logical channels;

and wherein

the first and second process means are operable in response to receipt of call signals for calls to other than the certain logical channels.

14. The arrangement of claim 13 for a system having pre-established physical paths corresponding to logical paths leading to the certain ones of the logical channels, wherein

the third process means generate, both independently of and for association with the band-indicating signals, requirements signals for controlling the operation of the resource management means to establish connections between the logical call paths and the one logical channel thereby to control the logical call paths;

and wherein

the resource management means are operable in response to receipt from the third process means of the requirements signals and the associated narrowband or wideband indicating signals for processing narrowband or wideband resource information, respectively, (a) to establish the logical channel structures for establishment of the logical channels, (b) to allocate the narrowband or wideband physical resources, respectively, for physical channels connecting to the pre-established physical call paths for establishment of logical connections to control the logical call paths, and (c) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the narrowband or the wideband resource control means, respectively, to establish connections of the resources allocated to the logical channel structures with the pre-established paths for establishment of physical connections to control the logical call paths.

15. A control arrangement for a communication switching system having narrowband and wideband physical resources configurable independently from each other separately to provide narrowband and wideband communications, respectively, for terminal lo9ical channels of the system and having pre-established wideband physical paths corresponding to logical paths to certain ones of the terminal logical channels, the system further including narrowband and wideband resource control means for configuring the narrowband and the wideband resources, respectively, in response to receipt of requirements signals, the control arrangement comprising:

a program controlled resource management system and a program controlled call processing system independent in program from each other;

the call processing system comprising

first process means for controlling a plurality of calls, operable in response to receipt of call signals and associated signals indicating either one of the narrowband and the wideband communications for any one of the logical channels for calls to any of the certain logical channels, for processing call information to generate, both independently of and for association with the narrowband and the wideband indicating signals, requirements signals for controlling a logical call path between the one logical channel and one of the certain logical channels independently of the wideband and the narrowband physical resources and the narrowband and the wideband resource control means,

second and third process means for controlling a calling and a called end of a call, respectively, each second and third process means operable in response to receipt of call signals and associated signals indicating either one of the narrowband and the wideband communications for any one of the logical channels for calls to any other than the certain logical channels, for processing call information to generate requirements signals for both establishing and controlling a logical call path to the logical channel at its end of the call independently of the narrowband and the wideband physical resources and the narrowband and the wideband resource control means,

fourth process means for controlling a logical conference by coupling logical call paths of a plurality of call ends to a logical channel, the fourth process means operable in response to receipt of call signals and associated signals indicating either one of the narrowband and the wideband communications for any one of the logical channels, for processing call information to generate, both independently of and for association with the narrowband or the wideband indicating signals, respectively, requirements signals for both establishing and controlling logical conference paths between the logical channel and the coupled logical call paths independently of the narrowband and the wideband physical resources and the narrowband and the wideband resource control means, and

means responsive to receipt of the call signals for creating the second, third, and fourth process means for each call to any other than the certain logical channels and for each conference, respectively; and

the resource management system comprising

first management means cooperative with both the narrowband and the wideband resource control means and operable in response to receipt of the requirements signals and associated signals indicating narrowband communications from the first process means, for processing narrowband resource information (a) to establish logical channel structures for establishment of the logical channels, (b) to allocate narrowband physical resources for physical channels connecting to the pre-established physical call paths for establishment of logical connections between the logical channels and the logical call paths to control the logical call paths, and (c) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the narrowband resource control means to establish connections between the narrowband resources allocated to the logical channel structures for establishment of physical connections between the logical channels and the logical call paths to control the logical call paths, and further being operable in response to receipt of the requirements signals and associated signals indicating wideband communications from the first process means, for processing wideband resource information (a) to establish logical channel structures for establishment of the logical channels, (b) to allocate wideband physical resources for physical channels connecting to the pre-established physical call paths for establishment of logical connections between the logical channels and the logical call paths to control the logical call paths, and (c) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the wideband resource control means to establish connections between the wideband resources allocated to the logical channel structures for establishment of physical connections between the logical channels and the logical call paths to control the logical call paths, and

second management means cooperative with both the narrowband and the wideband resource control means and operable in response to receipt of the requirements signals and associated signals indicating narrowband communications from the second, third, and fourth process means, for processing narrowband resource information (a) to establish resource management logical structures for the logical channels, logical call paths, and logical conference paths for establishment of the logical channels and call and conference call paths, (b) to allocate narrowband physical resources to the logical channel, call path, and conference path structures for physical channels, for physical call paths to the physical channels, and for physical conference paths between physical channels and call paths corresponding to coupled logical call paths, respectively, for establishment of logical connections between the logical channels and logical paths to control the logical paths, and (c) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the narrowband resource control means to establish connections between the narrowband resources allocated to the logical structures for establishment of physical connections between the logical channels and logical paths to control the logical paths, and further being operable in response to receipt of the requirements signals and associated signals indicating wideband communications from the second, third, and fourth process means, for processing wideband resource information (a) to establish resource management logical structures for the logical channels, logical call paths, and logical conference paths for establishment thereof, (b) to allocate wideband physical resources to the logical channel, call path, and conference path structures for physical channels, for physical call paths to the physical channels, and for physical conference paths between physical channels and call paths corresponding to coupled logical call paths, respectively, for establishment of logical connections between the logical channels and logical paths to control the logical paths, and (c) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the wideband resource control means to establish connections between the wideband resources allocated to the logical structures for establishment of physical connections between the logical channels and logical paths to control the logical paths.

16. The arrangement of claim 15 wherein

the call processing system first, second, third, and fourth process means generate requirements signals for establishing the logical and the physical connections for controlling the logical paths.

17. The arrangement of claim 15 for a system wherein narrowband resources include a narrowband switch having a plurality of ports for interconnection by switch paths internal to the narrowband switch and a plurality of physical narrowband channels corresponding to terminal logical channels and connected to ports of the narrowband switch, and wherein wideband resources include a first wideband switch having a plurality of ports for interconnection by switch paths internal to the first wideband switch and a second wideband switch having a plurality of ports for interconnection by switch paths internal to the second wideband switch, some second switch ports connected to ports of the first switch and others connected to physical wideband channels corresponding to terminal physical channels, the system further including a narrowband controller for configuring the narrowband switch into switch paths between selected narrowband switch ports, and a first and a second wideband switch controller for configuring the first and the second wideband switch, respectively, into switch paths between selected ports of the first and the second wideband switch, respectively, wherein

the first management means are operable in response to receipt of the requirements signals from the first process means and associated signals indicating wideband communications for processing wideband resource information (a) to allocate physical wideband channels and ports of the second wideband switch to the logical channel structures for establishment of the logical connections and (b) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the second wideband switch controller to establish switch paths through the second wideband switch between the allocated ports and the pre-established paths for establishment of the physical connections;

and wherein

the second management means are operable in response to receipt of the requirements signals from the second, third, and fourth process means and associated signals indicating of narrowband communications for processing narrowband resource information (a) to allocate physical narrowband channels to the logical channel structures and to allocate ports of the narrowband switch to the logical call path and conference path structures for establishment of the logical connections, and (b) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the narrowband switch controller to establish switch paths through the narrowband switch between the allocated ports of calling and called end logical call path structures and between the allocated ports of logical conference path structures for establishment of the physical connections, and are further operable in response to receipt of the requirements signals from the second and the third process means and associated signals indicating wideband communications for processing wideband resource information (a)(i) to allocate physical wideband channels and ports of the second wideband switch to the logical channel structures and generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the second wideband switch controller to establish switch paths through the second wideband switch between the allocated physical channels and ports and (a)(ii) to allocate ports of the first wideband switch to the logical call path structures, for establishment of the logical connections, and (b) to generate requirements signals for controlling the operation of the first wideband switch controller to establish switch paths through the first wideband switch between the allocated ports of calling and called end logical path structures for establishment of the physical connections.