Patent ID: 7697522

Claim:
A system for transmitting packets over a network of communication channels, the system comprising: a set of nodes comprising at least one node having a packet aggregation functionality in which the node forms an aggregation frame by aggregating a plurality of packets which have accumulated at the node, wherein, if at least one packet has accumulated at the node, each node is additionally operative to transmit at least one frame, each frame comprising at least one packet; a network access coordinator, comprising at least partially a hardware component, said coordinator operative to coordinate the access of the plurality of nodes to the network of channels, wherein at least one node is operative to inform the network access coordinator when it has formed an aggregation frame comprising a plurality of aggregated packets and to provide the network access coordinator with comparison information comparing different transmission possibilities for said aggregation frame, wherein said comparison information comprises a comparison of the per-packet times required to transmit at least one of the aggregated packets in said aggregation frame using said different transmission possibilities; and wherein said network access coordinator is operative responsively to determine which portion, if any, of said aggregated packets can be transmitted including determining an integral number of aggregated packets to be transmitted from among said plurality of aggregated packets.