Method and system for efficiently passing the silence or unused status of a DSO channel through a DsO switch matrix and a data switch
A method and system for improving the passage of silent or unused status of Ds0 channel to a data switch with a Ds0 switching capacity. The method allows the Ds0 channel source to be the only equipment that must engage a digital signal processor to remove silent and unused Ds0 channels from a Ds0 channel carrying data packet. The method provides for the Ds0 channel source, the intermediate nodes (data switches with Ds0 switching matrixes included) and Ds0 channel destination to recognize a simple and efficient means of passing suppression status of a Ds0 channel through the entire network.
1. A method for removing channels from a data transmission, comprising:
receiving a plurality of bytes of data associated with a plurality of channels;
identifying at least one unused byte in the plurality of bytes; and
generating a data packet comprising at least a portion of the plurality of bytes, the data packet including a flag indicating that the at least one unused byte has been suppressed, wherein the flag comprises one bit for each identified unused byte.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting the data packet to a destination node over a communications network, wherein the destination node identifies the at least one unused byte based on the flag.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
forwarding the data packet to a plurality of intermediate nodes prior to the destination node, wherein the flag is included in the data packet forwarded to each of the plurality of intermediate nodes.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating a data packet comprises:
omitting the at least one unused byte from the data packet.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data packet comprises an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cell.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data packet comprises a frame relay packet.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data packet comprises an Internet Protocol packet.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of channels represent Ds0 channels and the flag includes one bit for each unused Ds0 channel.
9. A system for removing channels from a data transmission, comprising:
a first node configured to:
receive a plurality of bytes of data,
identify at least one unused byte in the plurality of bytes,
generate a data packet comprising at least a portion of the plurality of bytes of data, the portion of the plurality of bytes of data comprising data associated with a plurality of channels, and
attach a flag to the data packet, the flag indicating that the at least one unused byte has been omitted from the data packet and the flag identifying each unused channel in the data packet.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of channels comprise a plurality of Ds0 channels and the flag identifies each unused Ds0 channel.
11. The system of claim 9 , further comprising:
a destination node, and wherein the first node is further configured to:
transmit the data packet to the destination node over a communications network, and wherein the destination node is configured to:
identify the at least one unused byte based on the flag.
12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the data packet comprises an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cell.
13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the data packet comprises a frame relay packet.
14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the data packet comprises an Internet Protocol packet.
15. A method for removing channels when transmitting information over a communications network including a plurality of nodes, comprising:
determining, by a first node, if at least one byte in a plurality of bytes to be transmitted is unused;
generating a packet comprising at least a portion of the plurality of bytes;
attaching a flag to the packet when the determining indicates that at least one byte is unused, wherein the plurality of bytes represents a plurality of channels and the flag identifies each unused channel; and
transmitting, by the first node, the packet.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the generating a packet comprises:
suppressing or omitting each unused byte in the packet.
17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
receiving, by a destination node, the packet;
unsuppression each suppressed or omitted byte based on the flag.
18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the communications network includes a destination node, the method further comprising:
agreeing to a unique identification for the flag during initiation of a communication channel between the first node and the destination node.
19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the communications network includes a plurality of intermediate nodes and a destination node, the method further comprising:
receiving, by at least one of the intermediate nodes, the packet; and
forwarding, by the at least one intermediate node, the packet to the destination node, the forwarded packet including the flag.
20. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
separating the plurality of bytes into channels, wherein the flag identifies unused channels.
21. A system for removing data channels from a data transmission, comprising:
means for determining if at least one byte in a plurality of bytes is at least one of silent or unused;
means for generating a data packet comprising at least a portion of the plurality of bytes, the means for generating omitting each byte determined to be at least one of silent or unused; and
means for attaching a flag to the data packet when at least one byte is omitted, wherein the plurality of bytes represent a plurality of channels and the flag identifies each omitted channel.
22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the plurality of channels comprise a plurality of Ds0 channels and the flag identifies each omitted Ds0 channel.