Patent ID: 8345672

Claim:
An optical signal multiplexer comprising: at least one optical port operable to receive and transmit optical signals of at least 155.520 Megabits per second (Mb/s); at least one electrical connector providing a plurality of lower rate signal ports operable to receive and transmit electrical signals; an optical interface to receive an optical signal via said at least one optical port and convert it into an electrical signal; an optical signal terminator configured to locate frames in said electrical signal received from said optical interface and extract selected overhead bytes in said frames; a mapper operable to use data from said electrical signal received from said optical interface and said selected overhead bytes to generate a plurality of lower rate signal streams; and a line interface unit operable to convert said lower rate signal streams into respective analog signals for transmission from said at least one electrical connector, said line interface unit being operable to receive analog signals via said at least one electrical connector and convert them to corresponding digital signals comprising lower rate signal, said mapper being operable to format said digital signals as an optical stream, said optical signal terminator being operable to append selected overhead bytes to said stream for transmission via said optical interface and said at least one optical port; wherein said optical signal multiplexer is deployed as a single card dimensioned for deployment in a card slot in a shelf of a telecommunications bay.