Patent ID: 6883025

Claim:
A method of autonegotiating communication configuration information through a plurality of communication devices with a shared autonegotiation controller in a multiple channel communication system, the method comprising: prior to initiating autonegotiation for a first of the plurality of communication devices, ceasing network communication to cause the plurality of communication devices to recognize a link_fail condition; autonegotiating between the multiple channel communication system and the first of the plurality of communication devices; determining whether a second of the plurality of communication devices changed status during autonegotiation of the first of the plurality of communication devices; and autonegotiating between the multiple channel communication system and the second of the plurality of communication devices without ceasing network communication with the second of the plurality of communication devices if the status of the second of the plurality of network communication devices did not change during autonegotiation of the first of the plurality of network communication devices.