Patent ID: 6965637

Claim:
A shared Digital Subscriber Line (shared DSL) modem for connecting a plurality of Digital Subscriber Lines (DSLs) connected to individual client modems to a source of digital signals intended for the individual client modems comprising: first means responsive to the source of digital signals for generating a first physical frame for an intended recipient client modem, said frame including a control field for indicating which of the plurality of client modems connected via a DSL to the shared DSL modem is the intended recipient of the frame and a data field in the frame; second means responsive to signals from the first means for generating a second physical frame identical to the first physical frame less the data field intended for the client modem identified in the control field; and, third means responsive to signals from the second means for transmitting the first physical frame over the DSL connected to the client modem identified in the control field and transmitting the second physical frame to all of the other client modems.