Communicating in voice and data communications systems

Abstract

A data and voice communication system includes communication between a line card and an accelerator card. Voice, data, and control traffic is received from the line card and is transmitted to the accelerator card via a physical link having separate voice, data, and control logical channels. The separate voice, data, and control logical channels are represented by labeled data packets.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for use in communicating between a line card and an accelerator card in a data and voice communication system, the method comprising: 
 receiving voice, data, and control traffic from the line card; and    transmitting the voice, data, and control traffic to the accelerator card via a physical link having separate voice, data, and control logical channels, the separate voice, data, and control logical channels being represented by labeled data packets.    
     
     
         2 . A method for use in communicating between a line card and an accelerator card in a data and voice communication system, the method comprising: 
 receiving time division multiplex (TDM) data from a first line card;    receiving packet data from a second line card;    formatting the TDM data and the packet data in accordance with a packet-based protocol to produce formatted TDM and packet data; and    communicating the formatted TDM and packet data to the accelerator card.    
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the voice traffic includes TDM data.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data traffic includes ATM data.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data traffic includes packet data.