Patent ID: 7486732

Claim:
A method for distributed load multiplexing of multiple encoded signals over a shared communication path, the method comprises: receiving a first encoded signal having a first varying relative bit rate; receiving a second encoded signal having a second varying relative bit rate; aligning multiplexing of the first and second encoded signals based on reducing cumulative peak bit rates of the first varying relative bit rate and the second varying relative bit rate by: determining an alignment segment of a pattern of the first encoded signal based on the alignment segment having a minimal bit rate of the first varying bit rate; monitoring the second encoded signal for an initial segment of a pattern of the second encoded signal; upon detecting the initial segment of the pattern of the second encoded signal, storing at least a portion of the second encoded signal; and delaying retrieval of the at least a portion of the second encoded data to align the initial segment of the pattern of the second encoded signal with the alignment segment of the pattern of the first encoded signal.