Enhanced link aggregation in a communications system

1. An enhanced link aggregation (ELAG) transmitter device, comprising:

a packet interface configured to receive a plurality of data packets;

a controller configured to segment and reschedule one or more data packets of the plurality of data packets and to add a sequence number to the one or more data packets; and

a distributor configured to logically distribute the one or more segmented and rescheduled data packets across an aggregate link including a plurality of individual links, based on an actual available bandwidth of the aggregate link and in accordance with at least one of a packet based distribution scheme, a segmented packet distribution scheme, and a byte based distribution scheme, wherein the distributor is further configured to determine the actual available bandwidth of the aggregate link by continuously monitoring an actual available bandwidth of each of the plurality of individual links without suspending the distribution of the one or more segmented and rescheduled data packets across the aggregate link.

2. The ELAG transmitter device of claim 1 , wherein the aggregate link comprises a plurality of Ethernet links that are connected to the ELAG transmitter device, and wherein the distributor is configured to determine the actual available bandwidth of the aggregate link by monitoring the plurality of Ethernet links.

3. The ELAG transmitter device of claim 1 , further comprising:

a plurality of modem interfaces configured to receive feedback information from a plurality of modems connected to the aggregate link,

wherein the plurality of modem interfaces are connected to the plurality of modems via a plurality of fixed bandwidth links,

wherein the plurality of modems are configured to convert the one or more segmented and rescheduled data packets from a fixed bandwidth format to a variable bandwidth format,

wherein the aggregate link comprises a plurality of non-Ethernet links, and

wherein the feedback information is indicative of an actual available bandwidth of each of the plurality of non-Ethernet links.

4. The ELAG transmitter device of claim 3 , wherein the distributor is configured to logically distribute the one or more segmented and rescheduled data packets across the aggregate link based on the feedback information.

5. The ELAG transmitter device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to output unsegmented data packets of the plurality of data packets to the distributor, and wherein the distributor is further configured to distribute the unsegmented data packets across the aggregate link when at least one of the packet based distribution scheme and the byte based distribution scheme is implemented.

6. The ELAG transmitter device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to segment relatively large data packets into relatively small data packets when the segmented packet distribution scheme is implemented.

7. The ELAG transmitter device of claim 1 , wherein the distributor is further configured to convert a stream of packets into a stream of bytes using a generic framing procedure when the byte based distribution scheme is implemented.

8. The ELAG transmitter device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to reschedule the one or more data packets when at least one of the one or more data packets is designated as having a priority level.

9. The ELAG transmitter device of claim 1 , wherein the sequence number is indicative of an original order of each of the one or more data packets.

10. The ELAG transmitter device of claim 1 , wherein the distributor is configured to distribute the one or more segmented and rescheduled data packets across the aggregate link using a weighted round robin distribution technique.

11. A communication system for achieving enhanced link aggregation (ELAG), comprising:

an aggregate link including a plurality of individual links;

an ELAG transmitter device, comprising:

a first controller configured to modify and reschedule one or more data packets; and

a distributor configured to logically distribute the one or more modified and rescheduled data packets across the aggregate link based on an actual available bandwidth of the aggregate link and in accordance with at least one of a packet based distribution scheme, a segmented packet distribution scheme, and a byte based distribution scheme, wherein the distributor is further configured to determine the actual available bandwidth of the aggregate link by continuously monitoring an actual available bandwidth of each of the plurality of individual links without suspending the distribution of the one or more modified and rescheduled data packets across the aggregate link; and

an ELAG receiver device, configured to receive the one or more modified and rescheduled data packets from the ELAG transmitter device over the aggregate link, comprising;

an aggregator configured to aggregate the one or more modified and rescheduled data packets into a single data stream based on control information contained within the one or more modified and rescheduled data packets and in accordance with the at least one of the packet based distribution scheme, the segmented packet distribution scheme, and the byte based distribution scheme; and

a second controller configured to reconstruct the one or more data packets from the single data stream.

12. The communication system of claim 11 , wherein the aggregator is configured to aggregate the one or more modified and rescheduled data packets using an inverse of a distribution method implemented by the ELAG transmitter device.

13. The communication system of claim 11 , wherein the second controller is configured to reconstruct the one or more data packets by examining at least one of a header, a sequence number, a segmentation overhead, and alignment information included within the one or more modified and rescheduled data packets.

14. The communication system of claim 13 , wherein the sequence number is indicative of an original order of each of the one or more data packets.

15. The communication system of claim 11 , further comprising:

a plurality of modem interfaces, included within the ELAG transmitter device, configured to receive feedback information from a plurality of modems connected to the aggregate link,

wherein the plurality of modem interfaces are connected to the plurality of modems via a plurality of fixed bandwidth links,

wherein the plurality of modems are configured to convert the one or more modified and rescheduled data packets from a fixed bandwidth format to a variable bandwidth format,

wherein the aggregate link comprises a plurality of non-Ethernet links, and

wherein the feedback information is indicative of an actual available bandwidth of each of the plurality of non-Ethernet links.

16. A method of performing enhanced link aggregation (ELAG) within a communication system, comprising:

receiving one or more data packets at an ELAG transmitter device;

implementing at least one of a packet based distribution scheme, a segmented packet distribution scheme, and a byte based distribution scheme;

adding a sequence number to the one or more data packets when at least one of the packet based distribution scheme and the segmented packet distribution scheme is implemented;

adding alignment information to the one or more data packets when the byte based distribution scheme is implemented;

segmenting at least one of the one or more data packets when the segmented packet distribution scheme is implemented;

converting the one or more data packets into a byte stream when the byte based distribution scheme is implemented;

rescheduling the one or more data packets based on a priority level of each of the one or more data packets;

detecting an actual available bandwidth of an aggregate link, including a plurality of individual links, by continuously monitoring an actual available bandwidth of each of the plurality of individual links; and

logically distributing the one or more data packets across the aggregate link based on the actual available bandwidth of the aggregate link, wherein the detecting the actual available bandwidth of the aggregate link is performed without suspending the distributing of the one or more data packets across the aggregate link.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the detecting the actual available bandwidth of the aggregate link includes monitoring one or more Ethernet links directly connected to the ELAG transmitter device.

18. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

receiving feedback information from a plurality of modems directly connected to the aggregate link,

wherein the aggregate link comprises a plurality of non-Ethernet links that are indirectly connected to the ELAG transmitter device, and

wherein the feedback information is indicative of an actual available bandwidth of the plurality of non-Ethernet links.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the logically distributing includes distributing the one or more data packets across the aggregate link based on the feedback information.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the logically distributing includes distributing the one or more segmented and rescheduled data packets across the aggregate link using a weighted round robin distribution technique.

21. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

receiving, at an ELAG receiver device, a plurality of data streams from the ELAG transmitter device over the aggregate link;

reordering the plurality of data streams based on priority information included within the plurality of data streams;

aggregating the plurality of data streams into a single data stream based on at least one of the sequence number, a segmentation overhead, and the alignment information included within the plurality of data streams; and

reconstructing the one or more data packets from the single data stream in accordance with the distribution method implemented by the ELAG transmitter device.