Patent ID: 7630411

Claim:
A multiplexing apparatus, comprising: a packetizer configured to packetize input data of a plurality of data types into fixed length packets each of which has a different packet length for each data type, and a multiplexer configured to multiplex resultant packets for transmission, wherein identification information indicating the data type is attached to each of the packets, said multiplexing apparatus is configured to negotiate with a demultiplexing apparatus to determine the different fixed packet length, for each of the plurality of data types, into which the input data of each of the plurality of data types is to be split, prior to the transmission of the multiplexed resultant packets, and the different fixed packet length, for each of the plurality of data types, is used by the demultiplexing apparatus to estimate a corresponding data type of one of the transmitted multiplexed resultant packets, when the demultiplexing apparatus cannot identify the corresponding data type based on the identification information attached to the one of the transmitted multiplexed resultant packets.