Patent ID: 8179910

Claim:
A method for communicating data, the method comprising: in a first network device that is communicatively coupled to one or more other network devices via a network, said network comprising one or more intermediate nodes: transmitting signals that comprise Audio Video Bridging (AVB) streams at a first data rate to said one or more other network devices and/or receiving signals that comprise AVB streams at a second data rate from said one or more other network devices, wherein: said first network device comprises an Ethernet medium access controller (MAC) layer that utilizes AVB services to enable said transmitting of said AVB streams at said first data rate and/or said receiving of said AVB streams at said second data rate, and said Ethernet MAC layer is operable to handle addressing of said one or more other network devices and/or is operable to control access to said network; said first network device comprises an asymmetric multi-rate Ethernet physical layer (PHY) transceiver that handles said transmitting of said signals and/or said receiving of said signals; said Ethernet MAC layer and said multi-rate Ethernet PHY transceiver are operable to handle a plurality of different rates for said transmitting of said signals to said one or more other network devices and/or for said receiving of said signals from said one or more other network devices; and said signals transmitted to said one or more other network devices and/or said signals received from said one or more other network devices are handled via AVB services with quality of service descriptors.