Patent ID: 7443888

Claim:
A method for communicating over a network comprising the steps of: at an ingress node of said network, accepting a client signal arriving synchronized to a client-signal clock; synchronizing said client signal to a processing clock of said ingress node while forming framing layer frames into which said client signal is inserted; developing measures of phase-offset between said client signal clock and said processing clock of said ingress node; developing an output signal of said ingress node comprising said framing layer frames and said measures; communicating said output signal to an egress node of said network; at said egress node, extracting said client signal from framing layer frames of said egress node; developing a client clock from said extracted client data and from phase-offset measure obtained from said framing layer frames of said egress node; and outputting said extracted client data with the developed client clock; wherein each of said ingress nodes and said egress node comprise: a buffer responsive to an applied client signal; a write address counter responsive to said applied client clock, developing a write address that specifies locations into which said applied client signal is written; a processor; a read address counter responsive to a clock provided by said processor that specifies locations from which said applied client signal is read; a subtractor for developing a difference signal between the addresses of said write address counter and said read address counter, applying said difference signal to said processor; and said processor for obtaining samples related to said difference signal to serve as phase-offset signals; where said processor develops framing layer frames that contain data retrieved by said processor from said buffer, under influence of said read address counter in a payload portion of said framing layer frames, and contain-said phase-offset signals in overhead portion of said framing layer frames.