Patent ID: 7305013

Claim:
A method for dynamically adding a new channel to and/or dynamically removing a selected channel from a group of virtually concatenated channels carrying traffic to a network element (NE) of a synchronous network: for dynamically adding said new channel: if a network delay associated with said new channel is longer than a network delay associated with said group of virtually concatenated channels: delaying traffic received along the group of virtually concatenated channels until the group of virtually concatenated channels and the new channel are time-aligned, and adding said new channel to the group of virtually concatenated channels following said time-alignment of the group of virtually concatenated channels and the new channel; and if the network delay associated with the new channel is shorter than the network delay associated with said group of virtually concatenated channels: delaying traffic in the new channel until the new channel and the group of virtually concatenated channels are time-aligned, and adding said new channel to the group following said time-alignment of the new channel and the group of virtually concatenated channels, for dynamically removing said selected channel: removing the selected channel from said group of virtually concatenated channels; and applying, after said step of removing, at least one negative pointer justification action on the group of virtually concatenated channels excluding the removed channel if a network delay associated with the group of virtually concatenated channels excluding the removed channel is shorter than a network delay associated with the removed channel.