Patent ID: 8914541

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving from a remote port a remote width capability during a link initialization, the remote width capability corresponding to the remote port and including a plurality of supported link widths; comparing the remote width capability to a local width capability of a local port; selecting a common link map that the remote port and the local port can support; operating a link between the local port and the remote port at a plurality of link widths in accordance with the remote width capability without an additional link initialization or negotiation between the local port and the remote port, including establishing a first link width for the link based on the remote width capability and the local width capability, and selecting a second link width to be narrower than the first link width based on the remote width capability and an operating condition of the local sort including a power saving condition, and modulating the link to the second link width and placing a portion of the local port in a low power state after modulating the link to the second link width; and transmitting data to the remote port at the second link width after the modulation of the link to the second link width if a predetermined amount of time has elapsed after the remote port has been notified of the second link width, the predetermined amount of time including a first period and a second period, the first period corresponding to an amount of time for a link layer of the remote port to relay the second link width to a physical layer of the remote port, the second period corresponding to an amount of time for the physical layer of the remote port to complete multiplexer switching in support of the second link width.