Patent ID: 7525992

Claim:
A physical layer device comprising: a coding circuit comprising a first communication circuit to receive a plurality of data sets, each of the data sets comprising a plurality of bits of data, and a second communication circuit to transmit a plurality of symbol sets each comprising a plurality of symbols, wherein each of the symbol sets represents one of the data sets; a multiplexer comprising a plurality of third communication circuits each to receive a respective one of the symbols in each of the symbol sets, and a plurality of fourth communication circuits, wherein the multiplexer selects one or more of the fourth communication circuits, and transmits the symbol sets only from the selected fourth communication circuits; and a media circuit comprising a plurality of fifth communication circuits each in communication with one of the fourth communication circuits, and a plurality of sixth communication circuits to transmit signals over a plurality of respective channels, wherein the signals transmitted by each of the sixth communication circuits represent the symbols received by a corresponding one of the fifth communication circuits.