FRAMING FORMAT SELECTION IN A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK WITH A USER PLANE

摘要

The invention relates to a technique for selecting a framing format to be used for communications on the user plane of a layered communications network. The selec­tion technique includes the provision of a first user plane component (such as a me­dia gateway, MGW) bridging transmission regimes and operable in accordance withtwo or more different framing formats. The first user plane component is controllable via control messages received from a control plane without being responsive to any framing format instructions possibly included in the control messages. The first user plane component or any other user plane equipment in communication with the first user plane component selects the framing format to be used for user plane commu­nications. The selected framing format is then implemented by the first user plane component for communications with a second user plane component.