Method and apparatus for reducing power consumption in network linking system

#1. Field of the Invention

#The present invention generally relates to a method and a network apparatus and, more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for reducing power consumption in a network linking system. The apparatus comprises a network linking interface device, a driving device and a load monitoring module such that the load of the network can be monitored, the average load of the network within a predetermined time interval can be evaluated, the network parameters can be adjusted according to the average load, and thus the network link speed can be re-negotiated properly.

#2. Description of the Prior Art

#The objects, spirits and advantages of the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be readily understood by the accompanying drawings and detailed descriptions, wherein:

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of a network interface card (NIC) in accordance with the prior art;

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram in accordance with one preferred embodiment of the present invention;

#The present invention providing a method and an apparatus for reducing power consumption in a network linking system can be exemplified by the preferred embodiments as described hereinafter.

#Please refer to FIG. 2, which is a block diagram in accordance with one preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the network linking system according to the present invention comprises: a network linking interface device 22 for connecting a system 20 to the Ethernet 30 by a network cable; and a driving device 24 for driving and controlling the network linking interface device 22. The network linking interface device 22 includes a media access controller (MAC) 221, a gigabit physical layer (gigabit PHY) 223, an oscillator 225, and a connector 227, through which the computer 20 can be linked to the Ethernet 30 by a network cable.

#The gigabit physical layer 223 is coupled to the connector 227 to tranceive data on the network cable at various link speeds such as 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps. The gigabit physical layer 223 utilizes the oscillator 225 to cooperate with a phase-locked loop (not shown) embedded in the physical layer to generate the clock signal for various link speeds. The media access controller 221 performs functions such as logical topology, media access and addressing. When linking at 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps, a media independent interface (MII) 213 is used for data transmission between the MAC 221 and the gigabit PHY 223. When linking at 1 Gbps, a gigabit media independent interface (GMII) 215 is used for data transmission between the MAC 221 and the gigabit PHY 223. The media access controller 221 further comprises a PHY control module (not shown), which is connected to the gigabit physical layer 223 by a management interface clock (MDC) signal line and a management interface data I/O (MDIO) signal line so as to access the status and settings of the register (not shown) in the gigabit physical layer 223.