Granted Patent B2

US 7,787,484 · App. 12/302,225 · Granted Aug 31, 2010

Abstract

Claims (34)

1. A method that comprises:

defining a transmission schedule of a TDM data frame that comprises multiple TDM time slots allocated for transmitting data over a TDM line;

providing a transmission clock signal having a transmission clock frequency to the TDM line, providing a first clock signal having a first clock frequency to data sources that belong to a first group of data sources and providing a second clock signal having a second clock frequency to data sources that belong to a second group of data sources; wherein the first clock frequency and the second clock frequency are higher than the transmission clock frequency;

pre-fetching, to a first intermediate storage a data segment from a data source out of the first group of data sources in response to a fullness level of the first intermediate storage unit and to the transmission schedule;

pre-fetching, to a second intermediate storage a data segment from a data source out of the second group of data sources in response to a fullness level of the first intermediate storage unit and to the transmission schedule; and

providing, in response to the transmission schedule, a stabilized data segment from the first or the second intermediate storage units to a transmission storage unit and transmitting the data segment from the transmission storage unit over the TDM line.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the first clock frequency and the second clock frequency are higher than the transmission clock frequency.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the first clock frequency and the second clock frequency are higher than twice of the transmission clock frequency.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the first clock frequency differs from the second clock frequency.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the pre-fetching comprises sending a data bit to a one-bit long first intermediate storage unit.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the providing a data segment from the first or the second intermediate storage units to a transmission storage unit comprises providing a data bit to a one-bit long transmission storage unit.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the providing of the data segment to the transmission storage unit comprises sampling the data segment at the transmission clock frequency.

8. A device that comprises:

a transmission schedule memory unit adapted to store information representative of a transmission schedule of a TDM data frame that comprises multiple TDM time slots allocated for transmitting data over a TDM line;

a first intermediate storage unit;

a second intermediate storage unit;

a transmission storage unit;

a multiplexer; and

at least one controller adapted to:

(i) control a pre-fetch of a data segment to the first intermediate storage unit from a data source out of a first group of data sources in response to a fullness level of the first intermediate storage unit and in response to the transmission schedule;

(ii) control a pre-fetch of a data segment to the second intermediate storage unit from a data source out of a second group of data sources in response to a fullness level of the second intermediate storage unit and in response to the transmission schedule, and

(iii) control a provision of a stabilized data segment from the first or the second intermediate storage units to the transmission storage unit, in response to the transmission schedule; wherein the transmission storage unit is clocked by a transmission clock signal having a transmission clock frequency, data sources that belong to the first group of data sources are clocked by a first clock signal having a first clock frequency, data sources that belong to the second group of data sources are clocked by a second clock signal having a second clock frequency; and wherein the first clock frequency and the second clock frequency are higher than the transmission clock frequency.

9. The device according to claim 8 wherein the first clock frequency and the second clock frequency are higher than the transmission clock frequency.

10. The device according to claim 8 wherein the first clock frequency and the second clock frequency are higher than twice of the transmission clock frequency.

11. The device according to claim 8 wherein the first clock frequency differs from the second clock frequency.

12. The device according to claim 8 wherein the first intermediate storage unit is one-bit long.

13. The device according to claim 8 wherein the transmission storage unit is one-bit long.

14. The device according to claim 8 wherein the transmission storage unit is adapted to sample the data segment at the transmission clock frequency.

15. The method according to claim 2 wherein the first clock frequency differs from the second clock frequency.

16. The method according to claim 2 wherein the pre-fetching comprises sending a data bit to a one-bit long first intermediate storage unit.

17. The method according to claim 2 wherein the providing a data segment from the first or the second intermediate storage units to a transmission storage unit comprises providing a data bit to a one-bit long transmission storage unit.

18. The device according to claim 9 wherein the first clock frequency and the second clock frequency are higher than twice of the transmission clock frequency.

19. The device according to claim 9 wherein the first clock frequency differs from the second clock frequency.

20. The device according to claim 11 wherein the transmission storage unit is one-bit long.

Assignments (27)