Patent ID: 8509143

Claim:
A method of transmitting data received from plural sources that are not synchronized with each other and a packet source as a single data stream comprising the steps of: synchronizing data received from the plural sources that are not synchronized with each other to thereby generate a synchronized data rate; providing a frame format comprising a plurality of frames, each frame having plural sub-frames, the number of which correlates to the number of plural sources that are not synchronized with each other and each sub-frame comprising a plurality of blocks, each block comprising: at least one overhead bit position, n bit positions of the synchronized data, m bit positions of data received from the packet source arranged as a function of the synchronized data rate, and a plurality of sub-blocks each having a bit position for the synchronized data or a bit position for data received from the packet source; assigning the synchronized data and data received from the packet source in bit positions of the frame format; and transmitting the assigned data as a single data stream.