Patent ID: 8553709

Claim:
A system for communicating data, the system comprising: a first network device communicatively coupled to one or more other network devices via one or more Ethernet links, said first network device comprising: an Ethernet medium access controller (MAC) layer configured to enable transmitting of signals that comprise Audio Video Bridging (AVB) streams at a first data rate to said one or more other network devices and receiving signals that comprise AVB streams at a second data rate from said one or more other network devices, utilizing AVB services with quality of service descriptors; and an asymmetric multi-rate Ethernet physical layer (PHY) transceiver configured to perform said transmitting of said signals and said receiving of said signals; wherein: said first data rate is distributed unevenly over each of four twisted-pair wires of a corresponding one of said one or more Ethernet links; and said second data rate is distributed unevenly over each of four twisted-pair wires of a corresponding one of said one or more Ethernet links.