multiplexing

thumb|250px|Multiple low data rate signals are multiplexed over a single high-data-rate link, then demultiplexed at the other end.

In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a transmission medium. It allows the same medium to be shared between multiple users. The aim is to share a scarce resource—a physical transmission medium. For example, in telecommunications, several telephone calls may be carried using one wire. Multiplexing originated in telegraphy in the 1870s, and is now widely applied in communications. In telephony, George Owen Squier is credited with the development of telephone carrier multiplexing in 1910.