Patent ID: 7590153

Claim:
A multiplexer comprising: at least two inputting devices, each configured to receive data signals having any of a plurality of nominal bit rates and any of a plurality of protocols, to determine a nominal bit rate for a received data signal from said received data signal, to determine from the determined nominal bit rate a protocol for said received data signal, to recover data information within the received data signals, and to output the data information; buffering devices connected respectively to the inputting devices, each buffering device being configured to receive the recovered data information from its respective inputting device, to save the data information, and to output the recovered data information at determined outputting periods; a mapping device connected to the buffering devices and configured to monitor a fill characteristic within each of the buffering devices, to determine the outputting periods for each of the buffering devices using the corresponding fill characteristic, to receive the data information output from each of the buffering devices to map the received data information into data units, and to output the data units.