Patent ID: 7983295

Claim:
A method of bonding a plurality of downstream channels in a communications device, comprising the steps of: storing a downstream flow in a queue memory having a variable quantity of queues, the queues including at least one pre-protocol processing queue that holds elements from the downstream flow prior to protocol processing and at least one post-protocol processing queue that holds elements from the downstream flow following protocol processing; performing protocol processing on elements pulled from the at least one pre-protocol processing queue; storing resulting packets from the protocol processing into the at least one post-protocol processing queue; receiving real time information on null frames in a plurality of downstream channels to detect two or more available downstream channels to form a bonded group of downstream channels; forwarding bytes from the at least one post-protocol processing queue to two or more designated encapsulation engines that are each respectively coupled to a modulator for one of the plurality of downstream channels that are members of the bonded group of downstream channels; and sending a burst from the modulator to a designated bonding receiver.