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(STDM, StatMUX) A system developed toovercome some inefficiencies of standard time divisionmultiplexing, where time slices are still allocated tochannels, even if they have no information to transmit.STDM uses a variable time slot length and by allowing channelsto vie for any free slot space. It employs a buffer memorywhich temporarily stores the data during periods of peaktraffic. This scheme allows STDM to waste no high-speed linetime with inactive channels. STDM requires each transmissionto carry identification information (i.e. a channelidentifier). To reduce the cost of this overhead, a number ofcharacters for each channel are grouped together fortransmission.["Data Communications, Computer Networks and Open Systems",Halsall & Fred, Addison Wesley, p160-161, 1995].["Digital, Analog, and Data Communication", Sinnema &McGovern, Prentice Hall, p245, 1986].