Patent ID: 8310936

Claim:
A method of providing link services in a communication network coupling a source terminal and a destination terminal, the method comprising: (a) in response to at least one command for transmitting data through a transmission path between the source and destination terminals, the transmission path including at least three links each including a respective one of a plurality of network nodes: the source terminal propagating a link activation along the transmission path to sequentially switch each of the at least three links of the transmission path to an operational state prior to data arrival at that link; and the source terminal initiating a process of assembling the data; (b) following the propagating, transmitting the assembled data in packetized data messages from the source terminal to the destination terminal via the transmission path; (c) independently monitoring propagation of the messages at the network node of each of the at least three links; and (d) each of the links switching to at least one power saving state in response to detecting completion of the propagation of the messages through that link.