Patent ID: 8189592

Claim:
A method for communicating over a network within a fixed burst upstream transfer window occurring at periodic time intervals, the method comprising: receiving, by a host processor, a first packet from a first processing module configured to receive first analog signals formed from a first subscriber line, to convert the first analog signals into first digital signals, and to generate the first packet from at least the first digital signals within a first periodic time interval; receiving, by the host processor, a second packet from a second processing module configured to receive second analog signals formed from a second subscriber line, to convert the second analog signals into second digital signals, and to generate the second packet from at least the second digital signals, in parallel with generating the first packet by the first processing module, such that generating the second packet is performed substantially concurrently as generating the first packet within the first periodic time interval; assembling, by the host processor, a transmission packet comprising at least the first packet and the second packet, wherein receiving the first packet, receiving the second packet, and assembling the transmission packet are performed within the first periodic time interval in time for transmission at a fixed burst upstream transfer window occurring at a second periodic time interval occurring immediately after the first periodic time interval, wherein the periodic time intervals have a substantially same periodicity, and wherein the transmission packet is guaranteed to include all packets generated by each processing module within the first periodic time interval; storing the transmission packet in a memory; and transmitting the transmission packet from the memory during the fixed burst upstream transfer window occurring at the second periodic time interval.