Patent ID: 7164688

Claim:
A method of transporting a data stream over a synchronous network using virtual concatenation, the data stream having a bit rate of R gigabits per second, R being equal to an integer power of 2, the method comprising: allocating R times a prescribed number of channels for transmitting streams of containers over the network; splitting the data stream into blocks; distributing bytes of each block over a group of containers of two or more channels; transporting the containers over the network; and upon receiving the containers from the channels, storing information from the containers in a memory for retrieval once bytes from all containers for the block have been received, wherein the memory is addressed with an address having a first set of bits determined by a position of the container in the stream of containers and a second set of bits determined from an offset determined by a position of the information in the container added to a base address for a channel from which the container was received, and wherein base addresses for a set of the prescribed number of channels are spaced by an address distance equal to the minimum range needed for storing a container in the memory, wherein the bit rate being 2 to the power M, where M is a positive integer, M least significant bits of a channel ID being used directly as address bits for the memory, the base addresses being used for respective sets of the prescribed number of channels, each set corresponding to a respective value of the M least significant bits of the channel ID, which value is shared by the channels in the set.