Patent ID: 8654780
Filing Date: 2014-02-18
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A multiple physical layer communication system comprising: a network layer providing a communication interface to at least one application; a data link layer in communication with the network layer and transmitting data to and from the network layer and routing said data between adjacent nodes on the network according to a data link layer protocol; an entity management module comprising: a network unified application program interface (Network UAPI) to provide communication between the network layer and the data link layer, a data link layer unified application program interface (DLL UAPI) providing communication between the data link layer and a first physical layer and a second physical layer, a physical layer unified application program interface (PHY UAPI) providing communication between the first physical layer and the second physical layer and the data link layer; wherein the entity management module is configured to request an amount of network data from the network layer via the Network UAPI for the first physical layer and the second physical layer; wherein the entity management module is further configured to deliver data received from the network layer to the data link layer through a plurality of input/output ports of the data link layer; wherein the entity management module is further configured to deliver data received from the plurality of input/output ports of the data link layer to the first physical layer and the second physical layer via the DLL UAPI; wherein the entity management module is further configured to receive data from the first physical layer and the second physical layer and deliver the received data to the data link layer; wherein the entity management module is further configured to deliver data received from the network layer to the data link layer via the Network UAPI; wherein the first physical layer is using a different physical layer standard from the second physical layer; wherein the data link layer receives the data from the first physical layer and the second physical layer at a same time; wherein a number of layers of the data link layer is less than a number of layers of the first and the second physical layers; wherein maximum data throughput of the network layer is greater than maximum data throughput of each of the first physical layer or the second physical layer; and wherein the entity management module is further configured to open and close the plurality of input/output ports of the data link layer and map the plurality of input/output ports to the first physical layer and the second physical layer.