Patent ID: 7751443

Claim:
A method, comprising: forming a first plurality of intra-chassis packets based on a first inter-chassis packet; forming a second plurality of intra-chassis packets based on a second inter-chassis packet; transmitting a first intra-chassis packet comprising first information representing a first authorization request to transmit a data payload associated with the first inter-chassis packet and the second inter-chassis packet to a second device; receiving a second intra-chassis packet comprising second information in response to transmitting the first intra-chassis packet; in response to the second information indicating approval of the first authorization request: initiating transmission of the first plurality of intra-chassis packets; receiving a fourth intra-chassis packet comprising fourth information representing a request to stop transmitting; completing transmission of the first plurality of intra-chassis packets and stopping transmission of the second plurality of intra-chassis packets in response to receiving the fourth intra-chassis packet.