Patent ID: 8355400

Claim:
A method for transmitting information over a plurality of physical communication links comprising: bonding the plurality of physical communication links to generate a logical link comprising the plurality of physical communication links; assigning each of the physical communication links with a corresponding assigned data rate; controlling the logical link using a first state machine on a first side of the communication links, controlling comprising transitioning from a first state to a second state upon receipt of a logical link initialization request, transmitting communication parameters to a device on a second side of the physical communication links while in the second state, transitioning from the second state to a third state upon if the device on the second side of the physical communications links accepts the transmitted communication parameters, transitioning from the third state to a fourth state, determining whether there is sufficient bandwidth on the first side of the communication links to transmit the information while in the fourth state, and receiving status information from the second side of the communication links indicating whether there is sufficient bandwidth on the second side of the communication links to transmit the information, transitioning from the fourth state to a fifth state if there is sufficient bandwidth on the first side of the communication links based on the determining and if there is sufficient bandwidth on the second side of the communication links based on the received status information; and transmitting the information over the plurality of physical communication links belonging to the logical link under the control of the controller if the first state machine is in the fifth state.