Patent ID: 7483432

Claim:
A method of operating a packet transport arrangement comprising the steps of: assigning an identification tag to each input channel packet signal received at a plurality of input ports of a packet multiplexer, wherein the identification tag assigned to each input channel packet signal identifies a channel number for each received channel packet signal, inserting the identification tag into (1) non-information carrying bytes of each received channel packet signal or (2) bytes located in an interpacket gap between adjacent packets of each received channel packet signal, multiplexing N tagged input channel packet signals into a multiplexed packet signal for transport over a communication link having a data rate at least equal to the sum of the data rates of the N tagged input channel packet signals, demultiplexing the multiplexed packet signal received over the communication link into N tagged input channel packet signals, and using the channel number to select a corresponding destination output port of a packet demultiplexer, for each tagged input channel packet signal, such that the N tagged input channel packet signals are multiplexed and demultiplexed according to the assigned channel numbers, in a channelized fashion irrespective of transmission protocol and routing information while having guaranteed bandwidth over the communication link.