METHOD AND DEVICE FOR BUFFERING DATA FOR MULTIPLEXING

The invention relates to a method and device for buffering data for multiplexing. The invention also relates to a method of multiplexing and to a multiplexer arrangement using the method and device for buffering data for multiplexing. In one embodiment the invention can be applied to the buffering of non-traffic data, such as firmware updates or other supplementary information, before multiplexing the non-traffic data with traffic data, such as television data of television channels, to form a satellite broadcast channel. In embodiments of the invention, non-traffic data for multiplexing is buffered and then read out again for multiplexing at a rate which is a function of buffer fullness. The non-traffic data may be multiplexed with at least one traffic data channel. A multiplexer can view the non-traffic data channel as another multiplexing input and can allocate the available bit rate between the traffic data channels and the non-traffic data accordingly.