Abstract: Methods and apparatus (4.1-4.4) for the efficient transport and routing of packets over frame-based networks are disclosed. Groups of packets are encapsulated inside of frames (4.7, 4.8) and the frames (4.7, 4.8) are transported over a multiple-access network. Each frame (4.7, 4.8) contains one or more destination addresses. Unicast, multicast, and broadcast are supported.

Abstract: A method and apparatus to improve the bandwidth utilization of a data transport network, such as SONET or SDH. Using knowledge of the topology, the network capacity that in the prior art was used to taxi the data to the sending node (2.1-2.4, 2.15, 2.16, 4.1-4.4, 5.1, 9.8) is instead used to send new data between nodes (2.1-2.4, 2.15, 2.16, 4.1-4.4, 5.1, 9.8). The method and apparatus can also be used to eliminate the bandwidth-inefficient taxiing of frames that are blocked and recirculated. by busy nodes (2.1-2.4, 2.15, 2.16, 4.1-4.4, 5.1, 9.8) in SONET-based data networks.