Patent ID: 7295569

Claim:
A method for selecting a profile for an interface of a network device, comprising: accessing a plurality of profile sequences associated with a network device comprising a plurality of interfaces, each profile sequence corresponding to an interface, each profile sequence comprising a plurality of profiles, each profile providing at least one parameter for communicating data, each profile associated with a margin set comprising one or more margins; repeating the following for a profile sequence corresponding to an interface until a link satisfies a sequence criterion or until a last profile of the profile sequence is reached in order to select a profile for the interface: accessing a current profile, the current profile associated with a margin set; initiating a link for the interface according to the current profile; determining if the link for the interface satisfies the sequence criterion in accordance with the margin set; accessing a next profile of the profile sequence if the link does not satisfy the sequence criterion in accordance with the margin set; and selecting the current profile if the link satisfies the sequence criterion in accordance with the margin set; and communicating data using the link according to the selected profile.