Abstract: A switching system and a method for performing high-speed switching within a telecommunications system. One aspect of the present invention utilizes an internal host and a self learning routing algorithm to reduce the time required to identify an output channel for routing a communication. Thus, the overhead associated with querying an external database can be eliminated from the switching system allowing a switching system to reduce the call hold time, and thereby meet the call flow demands of the telecommunications system. Another aspect of the present invention is the use of a hashing algorithm in resolving routing decisions. The hashing algorithm operates on received DID numbers to identify an output channel for a received call. The hashing algorithm is able to accept any DID number as input. Therefore, this aspect of the present invention allows a switching system to quickly resolve routing decisions without requiring consecutive DID numbers.

Abstract: A method for determining the integrity of a received signal in a frequency tracking environment so that a determination can be made whether Automatic Frequency Control (AFC) can be utilized. Several samples of the frequency are taken (205). At least one statistic based on these frequency samples is calculated for use in determining whether the received signal may be used for AFC operation. These statistics may include, for example, the mean, the mean deviation, the standard deviation, and the variance of the measured frequency. A strong signal limit and a weak signal limit are used to determine whether AFC operation should be disabled. If the calculated statistic is less than the strong signal limit (210) then AFC operation is enabled. If the calculated statistic is also greater than the weak signal limit (220) then AFC operation is disabled (225). This allows the receiver to continue AFC operation until the signal level is so weak as to cause erroneous frequency measurements.