Patent ID: 8515279

Claim:
A communications apparatus comprising: at least one optical-to-electrical converter for converting at least first and second asynchronous optical communications signals into first and second electrical signals having first and second given bit rates, respectively; at least one processing element for bit stuffing the first and second electrical signals to adapt the bit rates thereof to first and second integral multiples of a clock rate, respectively, wherein the first and second integral multiples of the clock rate are higher than the first and second given bit rates, respectively; at least one serial/parallel converter for converting the bit stuffed first electrical signal into a first set of parallel signals each having a bit rate corresponding to the clock rate, and the bit stuffed second electrical signal into a second set of parallel signals each having a bit rate corresponding to the clock rate; and a synchronous electrical switching element for controllably switching, at the clock rate, at least one of the parallel signals in the first and second sets.