Patent ID: 6956847

Claim:
A line card, the line card being arranged to be incorporated into one of a multi-slot broadband digital cross-connect system or a multiservice provisioning platform, the line card comprising: a first port, the first port being arranged to be provisioned to accept an input signal, wherein the input signal is one of a signal of a first protocol or a signal of a second protocol; and a plurality of devices, the plurality of devices being arranged to process the input signal to create an output signal which has a SONET payload, wherein the plurality of devices are configured to process the signal of the first protocol and the signal of the second protocol and wherein the plurality of devices includes a first device which is arranged to accept the input signal in a serialized format and to process the input signal when the input signal is the signal of the first protocol, a second device which includes section and line termination functionality used in the creation of the output signal, a third device, the third device being arranged to map the input signal to create the output signal when the input signal is the signal of the second protocol, and a switch, the switch being arranged to receive the signal serially from the first device and to provide the signal to one of the second device and the third device, wherein when the switch provides the signal to the third device, the third device returns the mapped signal to the switch which then passes the mapped signal to the second device.