Method and system for a flexible low power mode

1. A method for transmitting DSL data comprising:

establishing a DSL communication link between a first unit and a second unit, the communication link selectively operable according to one of a plurality of management states, each of said management states defined by at least one fixed control parameters associated with a predetermined value;

initiating operation of the communication link according to a first management state;

transmitting from the first unit a request to the second unit to modify said predetermined value, wherein the second unit selectively rejects the request; implementing the request if not rejected while said link is operating according to the first management state, and

monitoring a peak rate to determine a necessary rate increase on the communication link.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication link comprises a data transmission channel and a control channel.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication link is established using an existing communication mechanism.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the request from the first unit is transmitted via said control channel.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising measuring data in the data transmission channel to obtain a measurement thereof; and formatting the request consistent with the measurement.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said predetermined control parameters include at least one of bits per symbol of the transmission link, tone specific bit loading of the transmission link, tone specific power of the transmission link and used tones for monitoring of the management state.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein said management states are power management states.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first management state is the L2 power state as defined in ITU-T G.992.3.

9. A method for transmitting data comprising:

establishing a DSL communication link between a first unit and a second unit, the communication link selectively operable according to one of a plurality of management states, each of said management states defined by at least one fixed control parameter associated with a predetermined value;

initiating operation of the communication link according to a first management state;

transmitting from the first unit a request to the second unit to modify said predetermined value, wherein the second unit selectively rejects the request; and

implementing the requested modification if the request is not rejected;

whereby the first management state is redefined by the modified predetermined value monitoring a peak rate to determine a necessary rate increase on the communication link.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the communication link comprises a data transmission channel and a control channel.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the request from the first unit is transmitted via said control channel.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising measuring data in the data transmission channel to obtain a measurement thereof; and formatting the request consistent with the measurement.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein said control parameters define at least one of bits per symbol of the transmission link, bit loading of the transmission link, tone specific power of the transmission link and used tones for monitoring of the management state.

14. A method for transmitting data comprising:

establishing a DSL communication link between a first unit and a second unit, the communication link comprising a data transmission channel and a control channel, the communication link selectively operable according to one of a plurality of management states, each of said management states defined by at least one fixed control parameter associated with a predetermined value;

initiating, via the control channel, operation of the communication link according to a first management state with reduced power consumption;

measuring the data transmission in the data channel to obtain a measurement;

formatting a request based on said measurement;

transmitting, from the first unit, said request to the second unit to modify said predetermined value, wherein the second unit selectively rejects the requests

monitoring a peak rate to determine a necessary rate increase on the communication link.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the step of measuring the data transmission in the data channel includes measuring the data volume.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first management state is a low power management state as defined in ITU-T G.992.3.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein if the measurement exceeds a threshold, transmitting, from the first unit, a further request to the second unit to implement a second management state.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the second management state is a full power management state.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the second management state is the L0 power state as defined in ITU-T G.992.3.

20. The method of claim 14 , wherein said control parameters define a range of measurable values.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein said range includes a minimum data range and max data rate for said measurement state.

22. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

communicating between a network controller (NC) and a physical layer (PHY) of one of the first or second unit to determine one of the plurality of management states.

23. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

monitoring an average rate to determine a possible rate decrease.