General Synthesis of Tributary Switching Networks

A synthesis procedure is described which generates all tributary networks (TRIBs) realizing a given truth function when no a priori assignment of the variables to input terminals is specified. If the truth function is not known to be realizable by a TRIB structure, the synthesis procedure provides a convenient test for TRIB realizability. If the variables are preassigned to input terminals, the synthesis and test are still applicable and correspondingly shorter. A major tool of the procedure is the matrix of binary representations of the minterms of the truth function-the so called ``minterm matrix.'' The procedure is illustrated by a numerical example.