Patent ID: 7633962

Claim:
A method of minimizing sequence identifier (SID) difference of simultaneously transmitted cells in two or more data communication lines comprising the steps of: identifying a data transmission speed of each of the two or more data communication lines; configuring a fullness threshold of at least one buffer of two or more buffers in a transmit node in relation to a size of a data cell for transmission, wherein the two or more buffers correspond to respective ones of the two or more data communication lines, and the at least one buffer communicates with a given one of the two or more data communication lines having a data transmission speed slower than another of the two or more data communication lines; assigning one or more data cells for transmission to the two or more buffers of the two or more data communication lines at the transmit node; and transmitting the one or more data cells from the transmit node to a receive node in accordance with the data transmission speeds of the two or more data communication lines; wherein the fullness threshold of the at least one buffer controls assignment of data cells to the at least one buffer during data cell transmission on the given data communication line and minimizes SID difference of simultaneously transmitted cells in the two or more data communication lines; and wherein the configuring and assigning steps prevent the given data communication line from transmitting data cells with consecutive SIDs; said identifying, configuring, assigning and transmitting steps being implemented by the transmit node.