Patent ID: 7394783

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving a wireless signal on a PHY device of a communication subsystem, the wireless signal at a physical layer; analyzing at least one aspect of wireless performance; first determining an availability of a processor of an application subsystem, where the processor is operably coupled to the PHY device; second determining if the at least one aspect of wireless performance can be improved; if it is second determined that the at least one aspect of wireless performance can be improved and first determined that the processor of the application subsystem is available, then activating the processor of the application subsystem to process the wireless signal within the processor of the application subsystem, wherein processing the wireless signal at the processor includes processing the wireless signal at the physical layer to generate a processed signal at the physical layer and passing the processed signal back to the PHY device; if it is second determined that at least one aspect of wireless performance can not be improved or first determined that the processor is not available, processing the wireless signal using the PHY device at the physical layer to generate a processed signal at the physical layer; determining that at least one other aspect of wireless performance can be improved and that the processor of the application subsystem is available, and continuing to activate the processor and to use the processor for the processing of the wireless signal; passing the processed signal from the PHY device to a media access control (MAC) device for layer 2 and layer 3 processing to generate a data signal at a transport layer; and passing the data signal at the transport layer from the MAC device back to the application subsystem.