Abstract: STS-n with enhanced granularity is achieved by using an ATM cell framer which includes a plurality of cell delineators and cell assemblers for conversions between broadband STS-n which occupies at least a portion of a bandwidth of a synchronous payload envelope (SPE), such as a synchronous optical network (SONET) bandwidth, and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cells. The SONET bandwidth is flexibly and efficiently allocated for transporting the broadband STS-n which carries ATM data, wherein n can be varied in small increments to allow the SONET bandwidth to be shared with narrowband STS if the broadband STS-n does not occupy the entire SONET bandwidth.

Abstract: A method of scheduling a plurality of time multiplexed cells and a plurality of asynchronous cells in a temporal frame, which consists of first and second subframes, comprises the steps of assigning the time multiplexed cells or clusters of time multiplexed cells interspersed by a first plurality of asynchronous cells to the first frame and assigning a second plurality of asynchronous cells to the second subframe.

Abstract: A method of sequencing a plurality of cells in a superframe consisting of a plurality of frames in a temporal sequence comprises the steps of assigning one of the frames as a marker frame, assigning one of the time multiplexed cells in the marker frame as a marker cell, and coding the header bytes in the marker cell with header data. Alternatively, each of the time multiplexed cells may contain the header data without designating a marker cell.

Abstract: A queuing apparatus for avoiding address collision in a plurality of frames received from different interfaces includes a queuing memory 2, an address collision detector 16 which generates a frame offset for a succeeding frame colliding with its preceding frame, and a frame offset device 14 coupled to the address collision detector 16 to offset the address of the succeeding frame in response to detecting the address collision. A method of queuing the frames includes the steps of detecting an address collision between the preceding and the succeeding frames and repositioning at least some of the frames to eliminate the address collision.