Patent ID: 7385998
Filing Date: 2008-06-10
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A network device, comprising: a first plurality of line interface units interfaced with a first plurality of subscriber premises equipment over a first type of physical medium, said first type of physical medium comprising a combination of a first type of metallic link and a first physical layer protocol, said first plurality of line interface units outputting first signals received via the first type of physical medium; a first framer associated with the first plurality of line interface units and specific to the first type of physical medium, said first framer receiving the first signals output from the first plurality of line interface units and reconstructing first frames formatted according to the first physical layer protocol; a first universal frame mapper associated with the first framer, said first universal frame mapper receiving the first frames formatted according to the first physical layer protocol and reassembling first universal frames for processing by the network device; a second plurality of line interface units interfaced with a second plurality of subscriber premises equipment over a second type of physical medium, said second type of physical medium comprising a combination of a second type of metallic link and a second physical layer protocol, said second plurality of line interface units outputting second signals received via the second type of physical medium; a second framer associated with the second plurality of line interface units and specific to the second type of physical medium, said second framer receiving the second signals output from the second plurality of line interface units and reconstructing second frames formatted according to the second physical layer protocol; and a second universal frame mapper associated with the second framer, said second universal frame mapper receiving the second frames formatted according to the second physical layer protocol and assembling second universal frames for processing in common with the first universal frames by the network device; an optical line interface unit interfaced with an optical transmission medium; and switching circuitry interconnected between the optical line interface unit and the first and second universal frame mappers to switch Generic Framing Procedure (GFP) frames between the optical line interface unit and the first and second universal frame mappers.