Patent ID: 6973099

Claim:
A method for variably programming the values of frame synchronization bytes in the communication of a multidimensional digital frame structure, the method comprising: selecting the values of frame synchronization bytes in the overhead section of a transmitted frame; selecting the location of the frame synchronization byte values in the overhead section of the transmitted frame; sending the frame; receiving the frame; synchronizing the received frame in response to recognizing the frame synchronization bytes; wherein synchronizing the received frame in response to recognizing the frame synchronization bytes includes synchronizing the received frame in response to recognizing the synchronization byte values in the received frame; selecting the values of the frame synchronization bytes in the overhead section of the received frame; selecting the location of the frame synchronization byte values in the overhead section of the received frame; wherein selecting the location of frame synchronization byte values in the overhead section of the transmitted frame includes selecting a first frame synchronization byte values in a first number of locations; wherein selecting the location of the frame synchronization byte values in the received frame includes selecting the first frame synchronization byte value in a second number of locations, less than the first number; and wherein synchronizing the received frame in response to recognizing the frame synchronization bytes includes synchronizing the received frame in response to recognizing the first frame synchronization byte values in the second number of locations.