Bi-directional chaining of network access ports

摘要

Network access apparatus (31) includes first and second master units (30,32), each having a physical interface to a packet-switched network. A plurality of slave units (34), each slave unit having one or more ports (28) to respective subscriber lines, are linked by a plurality of physical interface lines (38) in one or more daisy chains (36,37,39), in which the slave units are mutually connected in series by the physical interface lines therebetween. Each daisy chain includes at least a first slave unit connected by one of the physical interface lines to the first master unit and a last slave unit connected by another of the physical interface lines to the second master unit. <IMAGE>