Method and apparatus for extraction and insertion of plesiochronous overhead data

1. A method of adapting plesiochronous hierarchical layered data to produce synchronous hierarchical layered data, comprising:

buffering plesiochronous data comprising a plurality of hierarchical layers; and

applying at least one clock signal to said plurality of hierarchical layers of said buffered plesiochronous data for producing said synchronous hierarchical layered data;

wherein said plesiochronous hierarchical layered data and said synchronous hierarchical layered data comprise at least one overhead data packet; and the method further comprises:

allocating a first additional byte of memory space;

allocating a second additional byte of memory space; and

prepending said first additional byte and said second additional byte to said at least one overhead data packet.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said buffering is performed according to a data rate associated with each of said hierarchical layers.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting at least a portion of said synchronous hierarchical layered data towards an external device for processing.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

inserting a first overhead data packet header byte in said first additional byte of memory space; and

inserting a second overhead data packet header byte in said second additional byte of memory space.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein said first overhead data packet header byte comprises a parity bit, two directional indicator bits, three unused bits, a valid data indicator bit and an alarm indication signal bit, and said second overhead data packet header byte comprises four channel number bits, two aligned data frame row number bits and two plesiochronous data stream number bits.

6. An apparatus for adapting plesiochronous hierarchical layered data to produce synchronous hierarchical layered data, comprising:

a memory component operable to buffer plesiochronous data, said plesiochronous data having a plurality of hierarchical layers; and

a processor coupled to said memory component for applying at least one clock signal to said plurality of hierarchical layers, said at least one clock signal operable to read said plesiochronous data from said memory component as substantially synchronous hierarchical layered data;

wherein said plesiochronous hierarchical layered data and said synchronous hierarchical layered data comprise at least one overhead data packet; and

wherein said processor allocates a first additional byte of memory space and a second additional byte of memory space in said memory component, wherein said first additional byte and said second additional byte are prepended to said overhead data packet.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising:

an input-output circuit, said input-output circuit operable to receive said plesiochronous hierarchical layered data from an overhead extraction unit.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein said processor initiates transmission of said synchronous hierarchical layered data towards an overhead processing device.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein said processor initiates transmission of said synchronous hierarchical layered data in response to an overhead row request pulse received by said processor from said overhead processing device.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein said processor inserts a first overhead data packet header byte in said first additional byte of memory space and inserts a second overhead data packet header byte in said second additional byte of memory space.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said first overhead data packet header byte comprises a parity bit, two directional indicator bits, three unused bits, a valid data indicator bit and an alarm indication signal bit, and said second overhead data packet header byte comprises four channel number bits, two aligned data frame row number bits and two plesiochronous data stream number bits.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein said valid data indicator bit and said two aligned data frame row number bits are received from an overhead extraction unit.

13. A method of adapting synchronous hierarchical layered data to produce plesiochronous hierarchical layered data, comprising:

buffering synchronous data comprising a plurality of hierarchical layers; and

applying at least one clock signal to said plurality of hierarchical layers of said buffered synchronous data for producing said plesiochronous hierarchical layered data;

wherein said synchronous hierarchical layered data and said plesiochronous hierarchical layered data comprise at least one overhead data packet; and the method further comprises:

identifying a first overhead data packet header byte;

identifying a second overhead data packet header byte; and

removing said first overhead data packet header byte and said second overhead data packet header byte from said at least one overhead data packet.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein said first overhead data packet header byte comprises a parity bit, two directional indicator bits, three unused bits, a valid data indicator bit and an alarm indication signal bit, and said second overhead data packet header byte comprises four channel number bits, two aligned data frame row number bits and two plesiochronous data stream number bits.

15. An apparatus for adapting synchronous hierarchical layered data to produce plesiochronous hierarchical layered data, comprising:

a memory component operable to buffer synchronous data, said synchronous data having a plurality of hierarchical layers; and

a processor coupled to said memory component for applying at least one clock signal to said plurality of hierarchical layers, said at least one clock signal operable to read said synchronous data from said memory component as plesiochronous hierarchical layered data;

wherein said synchronous hierarchical layered data and said plesiochronous hierarchical layered data comprise at least one overhead data packet; and

wherein said processor identifies a first overhead data packet header byte and a second overhead data packet header byte, and removes said first overhead data packet header byte and said second overhead data packet header byte from said overhead data packet.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising:

an input-output circuit, said input-output circuit operable to receive said synchronous hierarchical layered data from an overhead processing device.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein said input-output circuit receives said synchronous hierarchical layered data from said overhead processing device in response to an overhead row request pulse transmitted towards said overhead processing device by said processor.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein said input-output circuit receives said synchronous hierarchical layered data from said overhead processing device in response to at least one Multi-Frame Assignment Signal (MFAS).

19. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein said processor initiates transmission of said plesiochronous hierarchical layered data towards an overhead insertion unit.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein said processor initiates transmission of said plesiochronous hierarchical layered data in response to an overhead row request pulse received by said processor.

21. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein said first overhead data packet header byte comprises a parity bit, two directional indicator bits, three unused bits, a valid data indicator bit and an alarm indication signal bit, and said second overhead data packet header byte comprises four channel number bits, two aligned data frame row number bits and two plesiochronous data stream number bits.