Abstract: A method and apparatus for routing a message embodied in a signal received by an electronic messaging system includes formatting a search key using address codes parsed from a user address specified in the message, where each of the address codes corresponds to a different level of specificity for the user address. An attempt is made to retrieve a record from a database of routing information using the search key. If no record is found, the address code corresponding to the most detailed level of specificity in the user address is stripped from the search key and another attempt is made to retrieve a record. This process continues until a record is successfully retrieved from the database or a predetermined base level of specificity is reached.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to a computer based method for artificial intelligence with sufficient flexibility for permitting the program to be configured or adapted to different circumstances. The computer based method is provided with a simplified language which permits certain tasks to be done in a preselected sequence as determined by the user. All the tasks and the time at which they will be accomplished are set out in a job display indicating the day, the start time, the end time, the length of interval and when the next one will be accomplished. Errors, when found, are flagged and error correction strings are utilized to automatically correct the error so that the computer can move to the next job. Recordation of the job monitored and any errors found can be made in any convenient data base, including a printer, a voice signal or simply the display. This system permits the more mundane monitoring tasks to be accomplished by computer based method alerting the personnel only when needed.

Abstract: A technique for interconnecting line processing units (LPUs) of a packet switch and/or data concentrator system in which, instead of using a standard bus system, each LPU has a number of duplex point to point serial links that are connected in either a random or structured manner to provide a network of routes between the LPUs. Information is then transferred between source and destination LPUs as short packets. When the system is expanded by adding more LPUs, the network of serial point to point links expands to provide more routes and, hence, greater bandwidth to handle the increased information flow. Failure of a link in the network is not catastrophic as there are a number of different routes to any LPU and the system only degrades systematically in the event of link failures.

Abstract: Burst switching apparatus for a hybrid switching and transmission system adapted to carry multimedia traffic components including voice and data in multi-slotted frames, in which components of the traffic to be transmitted from the sources thereof are assigned to respective selected slots in each frame to assure transmission of information generated by each active source within a predetermined bandwidth, and the bandwidth is reallocated as necessary to provide additional slots within each frame to the active sources on a frame-by-frame basis to accommodate the respective bandwidths required for the information generated by those sources from among the total available bandwidth of the system.