Patent ID: 7680105

Claim:
A network device comprising: an interface for receiving a telephony signal from an originating exchange, the telephony signal containing a voice signal component representing voice signals; an interface for receiving an indication that a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connection is to be made to a corresponding network device servicing a terminating exchange; a cell formatter for formatting a cell to comprise: a) a VoIP data payload that includes the voice signal component, and b) a 3-byte cell header comprising: a 6-bit connection identifier that identifies a trunk on which the telephony signal was received, an 8-bit length identifier that indicates a length of the data payload, a 5-bit user information field that identifies a data type for the data payload, and a 5-bit error correction field; and a packet formatter, for combining cells thus encoded for multiple connections intended between the same originating and terminating exchanges into a packet, the packet formatted thereby being a single Internet Protocol (IP) packet such that a payload portion of the single IP packet comprises multiple cells intended for different connections.