Patent ID: 8311040

Claim:
A node for a communications system that packs and fragments variable-length service data units (SDU) for mapping into variable length protocol data units (PDU), each SDU being associated with a specified connection, the node comprising: a communications processor configured to pack and fragment SDUs associated with a specified connection into a PDU, including allocate bandwidth for the specified connection, based on the priority of the connection, establish a length for the PDU based on the bandwidth allocated to the specified connection in a current frame, pack a first SDU into a payload area of the PDU, determine whether a second SDU is larger than a remaining payload area of the PDU, if the second SDU is not larger than the remaining payload area of the PDU, map the second SDU to the remaining payload area of the PDU, and if the second SDU is larger than the remaining payload area of the PDU, fragment the second SDU into at least two fragments and map the first fragment to the remaining payload area of the PDU, and include packing sub-headers in the PDU to allow determination of the length of the SDUs and the lengths of the fragments that are mapped to the PDU.