Patent ID: 8576879

Claim:
A communication system for transmitting data comprising: a first circuit configured to: a) divide said data into a plurality of packets having a determined dimension, and b) generate for each packet a transmission segment having a segment header and the respective packet as payload; a second circuit configured to: a) separate said transmission segments into a plurality of physical units, wherein said physical units have a determined dimension, and b) transmit said physical units over a physical transmission channel; and a third circuit configured to perform a flow control, routing, or quality of service control operation; wherein said third circuit is configured to generate at least one value identifying a state of said system as payload, wherein said segment header includes a physical units field configured to identify a number of physical units which are provided to transmit said at least one value identifying the state of said system, and wherein said second circuit is configured to transmit the number of physical units identified in said physical units field.