The present disclosure is directed to a device and method for generating and transmitting a TDM signal including both raw data and processed data. The device includes a sensor having a time division multiplexing (TDM) interface. The TDM interface transmits both raw data and processed data in a single TDM signal by reserving one or more slots inside a TDM frame for transmission of the processed data. The sensor also embeds additional information inside a data stream of raw data by repurposing one or more of values of the raw data as an exception code, flag, or another type of notification. The device is also enabled to transmit data, and disabled when not in use in order to conserve power.

Provided are a method for determining and sending a multiframe, and a communication device. The method includes: for physical layers of different interface bandwidth speeds, determining a multiframe number of the multiframe to be n-th power of 2, where n is a minimum positive integer that causes the multiframe number greater than or equal to a number of timeslots of a physical layer, identifier values of the multiframe identifier for identifying the multiframe number are sequentially carried in preset positions of overhead blocks of respective frames constituting the multiframe, and the number of the identifier values of the multiframe identifier is the same as the multiframe number. The identifier values of the multiframe identifier are a preset number of consecutive 0s and the preset number of consecutive 1s in sequence.