Patent ID: 8027344

Claim:
A method for transmitting Ethernet frames of at least two different priority levels via one or more bearer channels, comprising: fragmenting a low priority Ethernet frame into a plurality of corresponding low priority code words, each low priority code word in the plurality of corresponding low priority code words comprising a sync code configured to indicate a priority level of the corresponding Ethernet frame; mapping priority bits of an Ethernet frame's virtual local area network tag to at least one of the sync code and a start of frame code of the corresponding low priority code words; and transmitting, via an interface, a plurality of the low priority code words via the one or more bearer channels after the fragmenting and prior to transmitting a high priority code word, wherein in case high priority code words corresponding to a high priority Ethernet frame arrive during transmission of the low priority code words, the following steps are performed: interrupting transmission of the low priority code words, transmitting the high priority code words corresponding to the high priority Ethernet frame, and resuming the transmission of the low priority code words via the one or more bearer channels.