Patent ID: 6868093

Claim:
A method for providing synchronization in a time division multiplexed communication network, wherein: a regularly recurrent frame of a first multi-access bitstream, which is accessed by two or more nodes of said network, is defined by a first regularly recurrent frame synchronization signal that is transferred on said first bitstream; a regularly recurrent frame of a second multi-access bitstream, which is accessed by two or more nodes of said network, is defined by a second regularly recurrent frame synchronization signal that is transferred on said second bitstream; and a node of said network is provided to transmit said second frame synchronization signal into said second bitstream based upon detection of said first frame synchronization signal on said first bitstream, said node performing the step of: transmitting said second frame synchronization signal into said second bitstream based upon an auxiliary regularly recurrent frame synchronization signal generated at said node if said first frame synchronization signal is not received on said first bitstream by said node in accordance with an expected frame rate.