Abstract: Disclosed is multi-media switching apparatus for performing digital, analog, and/or optical communications amongst multiple nodes over switching networks. The key aspect of the present invention is the full parallel aspect of the switching apparatus which supports n simultaneously, low-latency connections, where n is the number of functional elements interconnected by the switching network. Any of the n simultaneous transmissions can be digital, analog, or optical in any proportion. In addition, the present invention can also serve as a high-speed distributed controller for the purpose of of selecting analog or optical switches for information transfer between elements of the system.

Abstract: An apparatus is provided which tests the magnitude and sign digits of packed decimal binary numbers during performance of arithmetic operations which combine the numbers for the purpose of setting status bits used for setting condition codes, determining execution paths, setting the sign of the result and detecting invalid conditions.