Patent ID: 8467313

Claim:
A method for determining available bandwidth at respective ones of a plurality of physical layer (PHY) devices, the method comprising the steps of: polling by a controller said respective ones of said plurality of PHY devices at respective time intervals determined using respective ones of a plurality of counters corresponding to said respective ones of said plurality of PHY devices; receiving at said controller a series of responses from at least a given one of said plurality of PHY devices, said responses being based on available bandwidth at said given PHY device; and comparing said responses to determine an adjusted time interval for use in subsequent polling of said given PHY device; wherein said polling of said given PHY device comprises transmitting an inquiry as to a current status of an incoming packet buffer of said given PHY device; wherein determining a given time interval for polling of said given PHY device comprises loading the counter corresponding to said given PHY device with an initial value and transmitting the inquiry when the value of the counter corresponding to said given PHY device reaches a final value; and wherein the value of the counter corresponding to said given PHY device is changed responsive to polling of at least another of said plurality of PHY devices.