Patent ID: 7545740

Claim:
A method for communication, comprising: coupling a network node to one or more interface modules using a first group of first physical links arranged in parallel, at least one of said first physical links being a bi-directional link operative to communicate in both an upstream direction and a downstream direction; coupling each of the one or more interface modules to a communication network using a second group of second physical links arranged in parallel, at least one of said second physical links being a bi-directional link operative to communicate in both an upstream direction and a downstream direction; receiving a data frame having frame attributes sent between the communication network and the network node; selecting, in a single computation based on at least one of the frame attributes, a first physical link out of the first group and a second physical link out of the second group; and sending the data frame over the selected first and second physical links, said sending comprising communicating along at least one of said bi-directional links.