Patent ID: 8040887

Claim:
Switching equipment apparatus for use in a communications network for processing E1-type data frames, the switching equipment: comprising an interface that receives at least one E1-type data frame addressed to a given E1 destination port; and a processor that groups at least some of said E1-type data frames to constitute at least one group of at most n E1-type data frames, where the at most n E1-type data frames is grouped based on a common Ethernet destination port providing access to a respective E1 destination port of each E1-type data frame; associates with each group a control header comprising data that represents the group; and encapsulates the E1-type data frames of each group and the associated control header in a payload data field of an Ethernet frame to send the Ethernet frame to said common Ethernet destination port; and wherein the respective common Ethernet destination port provides access to the plurality of destination E1 ports.