Transmission circuit, reception circuit, optical transfer system, and method for transmitting multiframes

A transmission circuit that transmits a multiframe including N OTN (Optical Transport Network) frame signals that each accommodate an MFAS (Multiframe Alignment Signal) and a plurality of data signals, the transmission circuit comprising:

• transmission-side signal recognition circuit configured to detect the MFAS and recognize an order i (1≦i≦N) of the OTN frame signal;
• an intra-multiframe sequence converter configured to convert a sequence of the plurality of data signals inside the multiframe in accordance with the recognized order i;
• a transmission-side rearranging circuit configured to acquire the sequence-converted data signals in a multiframe unit, consolidate the sequence-converted data signals into lengths equal to those of the OTN frame signals respectively, and generate N quasi-OTN frame signals being sequentially added with an MFAS;
• and
• a transmitter configured to transmit a multiframe including the N generated quasi-OTN frame signals.