Patent ID: 7420922
Filing Date: 2008-09-02
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for controlling a network that includes a manager node and a plurality of other nodes, which are interconnected by communication links, the method comprising: arranging the nodes to communicate with one another over segments of the network at multiple different data rates, comprising at least a first rate and a second rate, each segment connecting a different, respective pair of the nodes; exchanging validation messages between the manager node and the other nodes, while the nodes are configured to communicate at the first rate, in order to verify that the nodes can be reconfigured to communicate at the second rate; in response to the validation messages, sending a command message from the manager node to the other nodes, instructing the other nodes to execute a rate change; and in response to the command message, reconfiguring three or more of the other nodes substantially simultaneously to begin communicating at the second rate over a plurality of the segments in the network that interconnect the three or more of the other nodes.