Patent ID: 8526453

Claim:
A central unit for processing telecommunication signals, comprising: a plurality of interface circuits that are capable to connect subscribers lines with said central unit; a first signal processing unit on board the central unit including at least the following component: a first digital signal processor that digitally processes the telecommunication signals; a second signal processing unit on board the central unit that shares common functionalities with the first signal processing unit to process the telecommunication signals, wherein the second signal processing unit includes a smaller subset of components included in the first signal processing unit; an interface coupling the first and second signal processing units; and a control unit for coordinating use of the common functionalities from amongst the first and second signal processing units through the interface that couples the first and second signal processing units on board the central unit, wherein the control unit causes a portion of the functionalities of the first signal processing unit and functionalities of the second signal processing unit to be utilized such that the first and second signal processing units are operated effectively as a single processing unit, wherein a digital front end function of the second signal processing unit is routed to an output of a first line interface via the first signal processing unit; and the first digital signal processor of the first signal processing unit is routed to an output of the digital front end function of the second signal processing unit.