Patent ID: 7116674

Claim:
An architecture for stacking Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers (DSLAMs) comprising: a single master DSLAM having a control circuit and an uplink communication circuit to a central office and two low voltage differential signaling (LVDS) circuits for communication with two DSLAM boxes in direct adjacent circuit interconnection to the single master DSLAM; a plurality of slave DSLAMs each having a programmable control circuit and two LVDS circuits for communication with two DSLAM boxes in adjacent virtual circuit interconnection; and means for selectively programming the control circuits in each slave DSLAM to control the direction of communication in the LVDS circuits in said each slave DSLAM as round robin in a first selected mode and a split in a second selected mode, said split selectively programmed at a desired virtual circuit connection adjacent to the single master DSLAM for communication only through that single master DSLAM.