Method and apparatus enabling concurrent processing of contiguously and virtually concatenated payloads

摘要

A method and apparatus for processing at least two types of payloads received at varying intervals in a communications network using a single processing path is provided. The two types of payloads may include virtually and contiguously concatenated payloads according to SONET/SHD architecture. The method comprises interleaving data in a predetermined format and controlling distribution of the data irrespective of the format received such that the data can be processed at the destination and passed to downstream components.