Patent ID: 9608865
Date: 2017-03-28
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method for communicating between a network device and a remote partner device: receiving, by the network device via a local port, a message from a physical coding sublayer (PCS) transmitter on the remote partner device; and reconfiguring, by the network device, the local port based on detecting errors associated with the message, wherein a configuration of the remote partner device is fixed, and wherein the reconfiguring comprises: determining whether the local port transfers data on a single link or on a plurality of sub-links, wherein: partitioning the local port to transfer data on a plurality of sub-links each having a second data transfer rate based on a determination, by the network device, that the local port transfers data on the single link having a first data transfer rate and that a local PCS receiver failed to align data received in the message, and aggregating the plurality of sub-links of the local port to transfer data on the single link having the first data transfer rate based on a determination, by the network device, that the local port transfers data on the plurality of sub-links having the second data transfer rate and that the local PCS receiver detected a code violation error in the message on at least one of the plurality of sub-links; and maintaining a same overall data transfer rate of the local port regardless of whether the local port transfers data on the single link or on the plurality of sub-links.