Patent ID: 7042901

Claim:
A method for managing cells in a digital subscriber line access multiplexer comprising: providing a plurality of buffers, each one of the plurality of buffers operable to communicate with a respective particular one of a plurality of line cards; providing a timing signal controller, the timing signal controller operable to transmit one or more signals to each one of the plurality of line cards, wherein each one of the one or more signals is a command to send a data cell; transmitting a set of the signals to the plurality of line cards, each signal of the set directed to a unique one of the plurality of line cards and staggered from each other signal of the set by a respective time interval; and in response to transmitting the set of signals, receiving, at the each one of the plurality of buffers, the data cell from the respective particular one of the plurality of line cards that is associated with the each one of the plurality of buffers.