Patent ID: 7586925

Claim:
A method for processing data comprising: (a) converting streams of synchronous serial data associated with a plurality of source time slots in a time-division multiplexing frame into a plurality of parallel data units; (b) constructing, during a synchronization interval, subpackets in memory from the plurality of parallel data units; (c) storing memory context information, including a destination time slot identifier, for each subpacket associated with each of a plurality of different source time slots in a time-division multiplexing frame; (d) constructing a data packet in memory, the data packet including at least one synchronization tag identifying the synchronization interval, a plurality of subpackets, and the respective memory context information associated with each of the subpackets; (e) providing the data packet to a receiving mechanism comprising an asynchronous switch; and (f) transmitting from the asynchronous switch the data packet, including a plurality of subpackets, to a destination to disassemble the data packet into subpackets, each subpacket being associated with a corresponding destination time slot identifier.