Methods and systems for fail-safe communication
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorLijing Hao
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A communication network is described. The network includes communication media and a plurality of network nodes coupled by the communication media. Each of the plurality of network nodes includes a first communication channel and a second communication channel. The first communication channel includes a first physical layer transceiver (PHY device) and the second communication channel includes a second PHY device. The plurality of network nodes are coupled in a dual ring-type topology.
Claims20
A communication network comprising:
- communication media;
- and
- a plurality of network nodes coupled by said communication media, each of said plurality of network nodes comprising a first communication channel and a second communication channel, said first communication channel comprising a first physical layer transceiver (PHY device), said second communication channel comprising a second PHY device, said plurality of network nodes coupled in a dual ring-type topology.
A method for operating a communication system, the communication system comprising a plurality of network nodes, said method comprising:
- coupling the plurality of network nodes together using a dual-redundant Ethernet ring topology, wherein the dual-redundant Ethernet ring topology includes at least a first communication channel and a second communication channel;
- and
- performing multiple-levels of loop-back testing including performing at least one of a protocol level loop-back test, a Media Access Controller (MAC) level loop-back test, a physical layer (PHY) level loop-back test, and/or an external loop-back test.
An Ethernet hub comprising:
- a channel selection multiplexer;
- a plurality of Ethernet controllers coupled to said channel selection multiplexer;
- and
- a plurality of physical layer transceivers (PHY devices) coupled to said channel selection multiplexer, said plurality of PHY devices each comprising a transceiver that includes a transceiver input and a transceiver output.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.