Abstract: A fixed-length cell multiplexing/distributing processing is disclosed. The apparatus for this processing includes a plurality of fixed-length cell transmitting apparatuses, each of which sends a fixed-length cell, and a fixed-length cell multiplexing apparatus which multiplexes the fixed-length cells received from the fixed-length cell transmitting apparatuses and outputs the thus multiplexed cells. One of the plurality of fixed-length cell transmitting apparatuses is configured as a highest-priority fixed-length cell transmitting apparatus. Further, the highest-priority fixed-length cell transmitting apparatus comprises a fixed-length cell storage section and a fixed-length cell read control section. The fixed-length cell multiplexing apparatus comprises a plurality of FIFO storage sections, an FIFO control section, and a multiplexing section. With this structure, information to be notified is divided into fixed-length cells for transmission.