Patent ID: 8270434

Claim:
A method for communicating in a network, the method comprising: performing by one or more circuits, one or more processors, or a combination of one or more circuits and one or more processors in an Ethernet device: determining one or both of: utilization of resources that enable said Ethernet device to transmit, utilizing Ethernet physical layer standards, Ethernet frames over a cable comprising a plurality of physical channels; and availability of resources that enable said Ethernet device to transmit utilizing Ethernet physical layer standards, Ethernet frames over a cable comprising a plurality of physical channels; and configuring said Ethernet device to transmit, utilizing Ethernet physical layer standards, said Ethernet frames via one or more of said plurality of physical channels of said cable; varying how many of said plurality of physical channels of said cable are utilized for transmitting said Ethernet frames based on one or both of: said determined utilization of said resources; and said determined availability of said resources; wherein the varying is based on one or more of a packet error rate, and a bit error rate of traffic received via said cable.