US 4819228 A
A packet communications network and apparatus for communicating information in voice and data packets transmits and receives voice and data in accordance with standardized frames of a standardized communications format such as a standard DS-1 type trunk. An apparatus is coupled to multiplex standardized channels into a single channel wherein voice or data signals are packetized into independently addressable packets synchronized on, for example, the DS-1 frame. The network includes voice and packet data concentration apparatus operable in a multiple node trunk environment to concentrate signals into independently addressable synchronously switchable packets, thereby to provide an efficient (high data capacity) interface between trunk terminations. Up to four times as much information can be transferred between nodes with the ability to switch between nodes as compared to conventional TDM and PCM communication without compression without the ability to switch between nodes.