Patent ID: 7417965

Claim:
A communication system comprising: transmission equipment that is assigned to a particular origination path, encodes user signals originating at or near the transmission equipment based on the origination path and a particular destination path, and transmits the encoded user signals on the particular origination path, the transmission equipment including: a first digital encoder for applying on a user signal a first code unique to a user and unique to the destination path to create a first intermediate user signal; a second digital encoder for applying on the first intermediate user signal a second code uniquely mapping the user signal to the particular destination path to create a second intermediate user signal; and a third digital encoder for applying on the second intermediate user signal a third code orthogonal to the second code, the third code identifying the user signal with the particular origination path; switching equipment that receives the encoded user signals on the particular origination path, routes the encoded user signals at a path level, and transmits the encoded user signals on the particular destination path; and reception equipment that is assigned to the particular destination path, receives the encoded user signals on the particular destination path, and decodes the user signals.