Patent ID: 7787502

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a time slot allocation module operable to determine an allocation of time slots in a time division multiplexing (TDM) scheme to transfer Ethernet signals associated with ports of a signal processing device; a multiplexing module operatively coupled to the time slot allocation module and operable to transfer Ethernet signals associated with a plurality of the ports of the signal processing device between the plurality of ports and another signal processing device over a single local logical Ethernet link in accordance with the determined allocation; and a signalling module operatively coupled to the time slot allocation module and operable to exchange an indication of the determined allocation with the other signal processing device on the Ethernet link, the indication comprising allocation information replacing Ethernet protocol overhead traffic on the Ethernet link, the multiplexing module being operable to transfer Ethernet signals by demultiplexing Ethernet signals from a multiplexed signal received on the Ethernet link and distributing the demultiplexed Ethernet signals to the plurality of ports in accordance with the determined allocation, the signalling module being operable to receive the allocation information in the received multiplexed signal, and to substitute the Ethernet protocol overhead traffic that was replaced by the allocation information in the received multiplexed signal back into the received multiplexed signal to replace the received allocation information.