Patent ID: 7822071

Claim:
A method of enabling the transport of timer protocols using a generic frame procedure (GFP) network, said timer protocols including a defined optical initialization sequence, the method comprising the steps of: transmitting said defined optical initialization sequence to a GFP mapper, said defined optical initialization sequence comprising a defined optical pulse and a specified clock rate; and said GFP mapper detecting said defined optical pulse of said optical initialization sequence and generating a specified GFP frame to represent said initialization sequence having said defined optical pulse, said specified GFP frame being recognized by the GFP network as a control frame for timer initialization, including the GFP mapper mapping the specified clock rate in the optical initialization sequence to the specified GFP frame by identifying the specified clock rate in the optical initialization sequence, using a look-up table to convert the specified clock rate to a GFP code identifying said specified clock rate, and inserting said GFP code into said specified GFP frame.