Patent ID: 8897129

Claim:
A physical layer (PHY) configured to receive packets from and transmit packets onto a wire, the physical layer (PHY) comprising: a first communication path configured to receive packets from a medium access controller (MAC) for transmission over the wire, the first communication path comprising a buffer to buffer the packets received from the medium access controller (MAC) prior to the packets received from the medium access controller (MAC) being transmitted onto the wire; and a second communication path configured to transmit the packets received from the wire to the medium access controller (MAC), the second communication path comprising a pause frame generator, wherein in response to a number of the packets buffered in the buffer reaching a first threshold, the pause frame generator is configured to transmit a first pause frame to the medium access controller (MAC) for the medium access controller (MAC) to pause transmission of packets to the physical layer (PHY) over the first communication path, and wherein in response to the number of packets buffered in the buffer reaching a second threshold subsequent to the first pause frame being transmitted by the pause frame generator to the medium access controller (MAC), the pause frame generator is configured to transmit a second pause frame to the medium access controller (MAC) for the medium access controller (MAC) to resume the transmission of packets to the physical layer (PHY) over the first communication path.