Method and apparatus for scaling modem transfer capacity in a multi-channel communications system

Abstract

A communications system includes a plurality of lines, a modulator/demodulator, a processing unit, and a negotiation unit. The modulator/demodulator is coupled to the lines and adapted to communicate data over the lines using a plurality of tone sets. Each tone set is associated with a particular line. The processing unit has an amount of available processing resources for supporting the modulator/demodulator and is adapted to generate resource availability data based on the amount of available processing resources. The negotiation unit is adapted to receive the resource availability data from the processing unit and determine a subset of available tones within each tone set based on the resource availability data. The modulator/demodulator is adapted to communicate data on each line using the subset of available tones. A method for allocating the resources of a communications system includes determining an amount of available processing resources for a processing unit. The processing unit is adapted to support a plurality of connections over a plurality of lines. Each connection has an associated tone set for communicating data. A first connection is established over a first line. A first portion of the available processing resources is allocated to the first connection. A first tone range is determined based on the first portion. The first tone range is a subset of the tone set associated with the first line.