Abstract: For facilitating the synchronization management in a system including a synchronized master and a slave unit communicating over a packet switched network (e.g., ATM network), the clock of a synchronized master unit is recovered by the slave unit by, for example an adaptive mechanism. The slave unit may use the recovered clock for transmission over the network. The depacketizing at the master side may then be performed using a clock signal provided directly from the synchronized network, i.e., without recovering the clock via the adaptive mechanism or the like.

Abstract: In a publically switched telephone network (PSTN), a method and a system for simultaneously and independently multiplexing voice and non-voice data over a single, commonly shared PSTN access line. This is accomplished by packetizing the voice and non-voice data into minicells, and then multiplexing the minicells into a single data stream for transportation across the commonly shared PSTN access line. Once the minicells containing either voice or non-voice data have been transported over the single, commonly shared PSTN access line, the data is simultaneously and independently routed to distinctly different end-users according to the routing information stored in the header portion of each minicell.