Apparatus for transmitting and/or receiving data at different data transfer rates especially in applications such as dual-rate ethernet local-area networks

Electronic apparatus comprising:

• an isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a connecting unit electronically coupled to the primary winding and connectable to a pair of lines of a twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the twisted-pair cable to the primary winding;
• a first receiver that differentially receives incoming data from the secondary winding largely at a first data transfer rate;
• and
• a second receiver that differentially receives incoming data from the secondary winding largely at a second data transfer rate greater than the first data rate, incoming data from the secondary winding being provided along data transfer paths that extend from the secondary winding through where one of the receivers physically receives incoming data to where the other of the receivers physically receives incoming data, the data transfer paths having a characteristic impedance that is largely constant during normal apparatus operation, incoming data from the secondary winding being provided differentially during normal apparatus operation on a pair of electrical conductors non-interruptibly coupled to both receivers and to the secondary winding.

Electronic apparatus comprising:

• a transmit isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a receive isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a connecting unit (a) electronically coupled to the secondary winding of the transmit transformer and connectable to a pair of lines of an outgoing twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the outgoing cable to the transmit transformer and (b) electronically coupled to the primary winding of the receive transformer and connectable to a pair of lines of an incoming twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the incoming cable to the receive transformer;
• a first transceiver that (a) low-pass filters digital data to produce outgoing data which the first transceiver differentially transmits to the primary winding of the transmit transformer largely at a first data transfer rate and (b) differentially receives incoming data from the secondary winding of the receive transformer largely at the first data rate;
• and
• a second transceiver that (a) differentially transmits outgoing data to the primary winding of the transmit transformer largely at a second data transfer rate different from the first data rate and (b) differentially receives incoming data from the secondary winding of the receive transformer largely at the second data rate, incoming data from the secondary winding of the receive transformer being provided along data transfer paths that extend from the secondary winding of the receive transformer through where one of the transceivers physically receives incoming data to where the other of the transceivers physically receives incoming data, the data transfer paths having a characteristic impedance that is largely constant during normal apparatus operation.

Electronic apparatus comprising:

• an isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a connecting unit electronically coupled to the secondary winding and connectable to a pair of lines of a twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the twisted-pair cable to the secondary winding;
• a first transmitter that low-pass filters digital data to produce outgoing data which the first transmitter differentially transmits to the primary winding substantially in accordance with the 10 Base-T protocol, the first transmitter containing a digital waveshaper that at least partially provides the low-pass filtering in the first transmitter;
• and
• a second transmitter that differentially transmits outgoing data to the primary winding substantially in accordance with the 100 Base-TX protocol.

Electronic apparatus comprising:

• an isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a connecting unit electronically coupled to the primary winding and connectable to a pair of lines of a twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the twisted-pair cable to the primary winding;
• a first receiver that differentially receives incoming data from the secondary winding substantially in accordance with the 10 Base-T protocol;
• and
• a second receiver that differentially receives incoming data from the secondary winding substantially in accordance with the 100 Base-TX protocol, incoming data from the secondary winding being provided during normal apparatus operation along data transfer paths that extend from the secondary winding through where one of the receivers physically receives incoming data to where the other of the receivers physically receives incoming data, the data transfer paths having a characteristic impedance that is largely constant during normal apparatus operation, incoming data from the secondary winding being provided differentially during normal apparatus operation on a pair of electrical conductors non-interruptibly coupled to both receivers and to the secondary winding.

Electronic apparatus comprising:

• a transmit isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a receive isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a connecting unit (a) electronically coupled to the secondary winding at the transmit transformer and connectable to a pair of lines of an outgoing twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the outgoing cable to the transmit transformer and (b) electronically coupled to the primary winding of the receive transformer and connectable to a pair of lines of an incoming twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the incoming cable to the receive transformer;
• a first transceiver that (a) low-pass filters digital data to produce outgoing data which the first transceiver differentially transmits to the primary winding of the transmit transformer substantially in accordance with the 10 Base-T protocol and (b) differentially receives incoming data from the secondary winding of the receive transformer substantially in accordance with the 10 Base-T protocol;
• and
• a second transceiver that (a) differentially transmits outgoing data to the primary winding of the transmit transformer substantially in accordance with the 100 Base-TX protocol and (b) differentially receives incoming data from the secondary winding of the receive transformer substantially in accordance with the 100 Base-TX protocols, incoming data from the secondary winding of the receiving transformer being provided along data transfer paths that extend from the secondary winding of the receive transformer through where one of the transceivers physically receives incoming data to where the other of the transceivers physically receives incoming data.

Electronic apparatus comprising:

• a transmit isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a receive isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a first transceiver that (a) low-pass filters digital data to produce outgoing data which the first transceiver differentially transmits to the primary winding of the transmit transformer largely at a first data transfer rate and (b) differentially receives incoming data from the secondary winding of the receive transformer largely at the first data rate;
• a second transceiver that (a) differentially transmits outgoing data to the primary winding of the transmit transformer largely at a second data transfer rate different from the first data rate and (b) differentially receives incoming data from the secondary winding of the receive transformer largely at the second data rate, incoming data from the secondary winding of the receive transformer being provided along data transfer paths that extend from the secondary winding of the receive transformer through where one of the transceivers physically receives incoming data to where the other of the transceivers physically receives incoming data, the data transfer paths having a characteristic impedance that is largely constant during normal apparatus operation;
• and
• an optical transceiver connectable to at least one optical cable and electronically coupled to (a) the secondary winding of the transmit transformer and (b) the primary winding of the receive transformer.

Electronic apparatus comprising:

• a transmit isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a receive isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• means for (a) providing outgoing data from the secondary winding of the transmit transformer to cable means and (b) for providing incoming data from the cable means to the primary winding of the receive transformer;
• a first transceiver that (a) low-pass filters digital data to produce outgoing data which the first transceiver differentially transmits to the primary winding of the transmit transformer largely at a first data transfer rate and (b) differentially receives incoming data from the secondary winding of the receive transformer largely at the first data rate;
• and
• a second transceiver that (a) differentially transmits outgoing data to the primary winding of the transmit transformer largely at a second data transfer rate different from the first data rate and (b) differentially receives incoming data from the secondary winding of the receive transformer largely at the second data rate, incoming data from the secondary winding of the receive transformer being provided along data transfer paths that extend from the secondary winding of the receive transformer through where one of the transceivers physically receives incoming data to where the other of the transceivers physically receives incoming data, the data transfer paths having a characteristic impedance that is largely constant during normal apparatus operation.

Electronic apparatus comprising:

• an isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a connecting unit electronically coupled to the secondary winding and connectable to a pair of lines of a twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the twisted-pair cable to the secondary winding;
• a first transmitter that low-pass filters digital data to produce outgoing data which the first transmitter differentially transmits to the primary winding largely at a first data transfer rate;
• a second transmitter that differentially transmits outgoing data to the primary winding largely at a second data transfer rate grater than the first data rate;
• and
• a transmit filter that low-pass filters outgoing data from the second transmitter at a frequency bandwidth greater than that of the first transmitter, the transformer being electronically coupled through the transmit filter to the connecting unit.

Electronic apparatus comprising:

• an isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a connecting unit electronically coupled to the secondary winding and connectable to a pair of lines of a twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the twisted-pair cable to the secondary winding;
• a first transmitter that low-pass filters digital data to produce outgoing data which the first transmitter differentially transmits to the primary winding largely at a first data transfer rate;
• a second transmitter that differentially transmits outgoing data to the primary winding largely at a second data transfer rate greater than the first data rate;
• and
• a transmit filter that low-pass filters outgoing data from the second transmitter, where (a) outgoing data at the first data rate has a first characteristic data rate frequency, (b) outgoing data at the second data rate has a second characteristic data rate frequency greater than the first characteristic data rate frequency, (c) the first transmitter has a low-pass cut-off frequency in the range extending between the first and second characteristic data rate frequencies, and (d) the transmit filter has a low-pass cut-off frequency greater than or equal to the second characteristic data rate frequency.

Electronic apparatus comprising:

• an isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a connecting unit electronically coupled to the secondary winding and connectable to a pair of lines of a twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the twisted-pair cable to the secondary winding;
• a first transmitter that low-pass filters digital data to produce outgoing data which the first transmitter differentially transmits to the primary winding largely at a first data transfer rate;
• a pair of first impedance elements, outgoing data from the first transmitter being transmitted differentially through the first impedance elements respectively to a pair of first electrical conductors coupled to the primary winding;
• and
• a second transmitter that differentially transmits outgoing data to the primary winding largely at a second data transfer rate greater than the first data rate.

Electronic apparatus comprising:

• an isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a connecting unit electronically coupled to the secondary winding and connectable to a pair of lines of a twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the twisted-pair cable to the secondary winding;
• a common-mode choke through which the secondary winding is electronically coupled to the connecting unit;
• a first transmitter that low-pass filters digital data to produce outgoing data which the first transmitter differentially transmits to the primary winding largely at a first data transfer rate;
• and
• a second transmitter that differentially transmits outgoing data to the primary winding largely at a second data transfer rate greater than the first data rate.

Electronic apparatus comprising:

• an isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a connecting unit electronically coupled to the secondary winding and connectable to a pair of lines of a twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the twisted-pair cable to the secondary winding;
• a first transmitter that low-pass filters digital data to produce outgoing data which the first transmitter differentially transmits to the primary winding largely at a first data transfer rate;
• a second transmitter that differentially transmits outgoing data to the primary winding largely at a second data transfer rate greater than the first data rate;
• a first transmit state machine that performs state functions on digital data to produce data supplied at the first data rate to the first transmitter;
• a second transmit state machine that performs state functions on digital data to produce data supplied at the second data rate to the second transmitter;
• and
• selection circuitry that selectively passes digital data either to the first state machine or to the second state machine.

Electronic apparatus comprising:

• an isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a connecting unit electronically coupled to the secondary winding and connectable to a pair of lines of a twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the twisted-pair cable to the secondary winding;
• a first transmitter that low-pass filters digital data to produce outgoing data which the first transmitter differentially transmits to the primary winding largely at a first data transfer rate;
• a second transmitter that differentially transmits outgoing data to the primary winding largely at a second data transfer rate greater than the first data rate;
• a further isolation transformer having a further primary winding and a further secondary winding, the connecting unit being electronically coupled to the further primary winding and connectable to a pair of lines of a further twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the further twisted-pair cable to the further primary winding;
• a first receiver that differentially receives incoming data from the further secondary winding largely at the first data rate;
• and
• a second receiver that differentially receives incoming data from the further secondary winding largely at the second data rate.

Electronic apparatus comprising:

• an isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a connecting unit electronically coupled to the primary winding and connectable to a pair of lines of a twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the twisted-pair cable to the primary winding;
• a first receiver that differentially receives incoming data from the secondary winding largely at a first data transfer rate;
• a second receiver that differentially receives incoming data from the secondary winding largely at a second data transfer rate greater than the first data rate, incoming data from the secondary winding being provided along data transfer paths that extend from the secondary winding through where one of the receivers physically receives incoming data to where the other of the receivers physically receives incoming data, the data transfer paths having a characteristic impedance that is largely constant during normal apparatus operation;
• a first receive state machine that performs state functions on data received from the first receiver at the first data rate to produce further data;
• a second receive state machine that performs state functions on data received from the second receiver at the second data rate to produce further data;
• and
• selection circuitry that selectively passes further data either from the first state machine or from the second state machine.

Electronic apparatus comprising:

• an isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding;
• a connecting unit electronically coupled to the primary winding and connectable to a pair of lines of a twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the twisted-pair cable to the primary winding;
• a first receiver that differentially receives incoming data from the secondary winding largely at a first data transfer rate;
• a second receiver that differentially receives incoming data from the secondary winding largely at a second data transfer rate greater than the first data rate, incoming data from the secondary winding being provided along data transfer paths that extend from the secondary winding through where one of the receivers physically receives incoming data to where the other of the receivers physically receives incoming data, the data transfer paths having a characteristic impedance that is largely constant during normal apparatus operation;
• a further isolation transformer having a further primary winding and a further secondary winding, the connecting unit being electronically coupled to the further secondary winding and connectable to a pair of lines of a further twisted-pair cable so as to electronically couple the further twisted-pair cable to the further secondary winding;
• a first transmitter that differentially transmits outgoing data to the further primary winding largely at the first data rate;
• and
• a second transmitter that differentially transmits outgoing data to the further primary winding largely at the second data rate.