Patent ID: 7073079

Claim:
A method comprising: determining one or more data transmission rates supported by a transmitting node operating according to a first communication protocol, wherein in the transmitting node include a host, a medium access controller (MAC), a physical layer processor (PLP) and two or more buffers as intermediate storage between components in the transmitting node, the one or more buffers including a first buffer coupled to receive data generated by the host and to provide the data generated by the host to the MAC, and a second buffer coupled to receive data generated by the MAC and to provide data generated by the MAC to the PLP; determining one or more data transmission rates supported by one or more data transmission channels operating according to the first communication protocol, the one or more data transmission channels being used to communicate data between the transmitting node and a receiving node; and setting power consumption levels of one or more components in the transmitting node based on the data transmission rates supported by the transmitting node and the data transmission rates supported by the one or more channels, wherein setting power consumption levels includes: determining whether a particular component has finished performing its corresponding function: and reducing power consumption level of the particular component if the particular component has finished performing its corresponding function; and if the data transmission rate of the host is greater than that of the one or more channels, reducing power consumption of the host after the host has finished writing data to the first buffer during a time interval in which the other components of the transmitting node processing the data stored in the first buffer.