Patent ID: 8824505

Claim:
A method for transmitting client signals in an Optical Transport Network (OTN), comprising: receiving a client signal; determining a quantity of n-bit data units of the client signal based on a clock of the client signal and a local clock; mapping information of the quantity of n-bit data units of the client signal to an overhead of a first Optical Channel Data Tributary Unit (ODTU) frame; mapping the n-bit data units of the client signal to a payload area of a second ODTU frame next to the first ODTU frame according to the information of the quantity of n-bit data units mapped in the overhead of the first ODTU frame; mapping each byte of the second ODTU frame to at least one Optical Channel Payload Unit-k Tributary Slot (OPUk TS) in an OPUk frame, wherein the OPUk frame includes an overhead containing a tributary slot MultiFrame Indicator (MFI-TS) byte, which increases by 1 for every frame until its number is the same as the number of the OPUk TSs in the OPUk frame; and forming an Optical Channel Transport Unit-k (OTUk) frame including the OPUk frame for transmission.