Patent ID: 7085293

Claim:
A method for processing communication at a node in a communication system comprising: receiving at said node a series of fixed-length data frames over the communication system, including receiving a plurality of data streams multiplexed in the series of fixed-length frames, each of the data streams originating from a corresponding one of a plurality of sources of data in the communication system and at least two of said data streams originate from a same source of data; for each of the series of fixed-length frames, identifying a plurality of offsets within said fixed-length frame, each of said offsets being associated with a different one of the plurality of sources of data, wherein identifying the offsets within a fixed-length frame includes accessing overhead data encoded in said frame to identify offsets that each characterizes a displacement relative to the start of the frame that is associated with a different one of the sources of data; and processing the data streams multiplexed in the series of fixed-length frames, including, for each of the data streams, in each of the series of fixed-length frames, processing said data stream according to the offset identified for said frame that is associated with the source of said data stream.