Cell multiplexing apparatus handling multiple items of information

A cell multiplexing apparatus for receiving communication information over a minimum of two channels and for transmitting the communication information to a transmission line, said cell multiplexing apparatus comprising:

• call monitoring means for obtaining call setting information from said communication information, indicative of monitor control information for each channel;
• and
• at least one multiplexing means, each of said at least one multiplexing means for multiplexing said communication information received over said minimum of two channels into a single cell of a fixed length and comprising a header and a payload, in accordance with said call setting information obtained by said call monitoring means, and transmitting said single cell to the transmission line;
• wherein said call monitoring means comprises path identifying means for receiving said communication information stored in a plurality of cells smaller than each single cell and for monitoring respective headers of the received cells, capturing only those received cells having an identical virtual path identifier;
• and
• wherein each of said multiplexing means comprises cell mapping means for multiplexing a minimum of two of said plurality of cells having the same virtual path identifier into one of said single cells.

A cell multiplexing apparatus for transmitting information in cells, each cell made of a header and a payload in an in-house communication line setup, said apparatus comprising:

• in-house bus means;
• in-house terminal means including a plurality of information sources connected to said in-house bus means via interface means, for interfacing with said in-house bus means, said in-house bus means transmitting said cells between each of said in-house terminal means;
• said interface means comprising:
• buffer means for accumulating a plurality of transmission information from each piece of said information from each information source;
• buffer control means for multiplexing the information accumulated in said buffer means into the payload of a respective one of the cells;
• and
• asynchronous transfer mode multiplexing means for setting said header to indicate said payload being multiplexed with a plurality of said information.

A cell multiplexing apparatus for receiving communication information over groups of channels, each group of channels comprising at least two channels, and for transmitting the communication information to a transmission line, said cell multiplexing means comprising:

• a plurality of call monitoring means for obtaining call setting information from said communication information received over respective groups of channels, said call setting information indicative of monitor control information for each channel;
• and
• a plurality of data multiplexing means for multiplexing said communication information received over respective groups of said channels into respective single cells, each single cell being of a fixed length and comprising a head and a payload, in accordance with said call setting information obtained by said call monitoring means;
• and
• cross connection multiplexing means for receiving said single cells from said plurality of data multiplexing means and alternately enabling transmission of said single cells to the transmission line.

A cell multiplexing apparatus for transmitting information in cells, each cell made of a header and a payload in an in-house communication line setup, said apparatus comprising:

• in-house bus;
• in-house terminal means including a plurality of information sources connected to said in-house bus means via interface means, for interfacing with said in-house bus means, said in-housing bus means transmitting said cells between each of said in-house terminal means;
• said interface means comprising:
• buffer means for accumulating communication data of a plurality of information types from the corresponding plurality of information sources;
• transmission rate determining means for determining desired transmission rates for each of the plurality of information types;
• buffer control means for determining transmission rates of the communication data for each of the plurality of information types accumulated in said buffer means and determining the communication data of the plurality of information types to be allocated into the payload of a respective one of the cells, based upon said desired transmission rates and said communication data;
• and
• asynchronous transfer mode multiplexing means for multiplexing the communication data into the payload of said respective cell and adding said header to said payload.