Importance

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Abstract

Method and apparatus for information communication during call connections between subscribers adapted to transmit and receive multimedia information at endpoint nodes of a fast packet switched network, in which the endpoint nodes are connectable for calls via network paths including transit nodes traversed by links of the paths, and the multimedia information is conveyed as traffic consisting of a plurality of component types from among voice, video and data traffic component types each associated with a different subscriber at one of the endpoint nodes. Each of a plurality of variably sized composite frames is assembled within a preset fixed time interval from portions of information streams generated by the subscribers at an endpoint node, into respective ones of a plurality of fixed size channels representing bandwidth allocations for each of the traffic component types, with each channel dedicated to a subscriber for the duration of that subscriber's respective call connection, to produce a sequence of the composite frames in which each is separated from the next by the time interval. The sequence of composite frames is synchronously launched into the network as assembly of each of the frames is completed.

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First Claim