Extended PHY addressing

Apparatus for performing port and PHY management in a telecommunications device comprising:

• a controller having a first bus interface and a second bus interface, said controller communicating with said second bus interface via a serial peripheral channel;
• a plurality of ports, each port including at least one Media Access Controller per port and at least one PHY for coupling the respective Media Access Controller to a communications link;
• said controller being coupled to said plurality of ports via said first bus interface;
• a memory containing a port management control program wherein said controller is operative to execute said program to configure each of said plurality of ports and to retrieve statistics information from at least some of said plurality of ports via said first bus interface;
• control logic, said controller coupled to said control logic via said second bus interface, said controller being operative to transmit information to said control logic via said second bus interface employing PHY management messages and to receive data from said control logic via said second bus interface, wherein said PHY management messages have a PHY address field comprising a predetermined number of bits;
• a plurality of serial bidirectional control buses coupled to said control logic;
• at least one PHY coupled to each of said plurality of control buses wherein the number of PHYS coupled to each of said plurality of management control buses is equal to or less than the number of PHYS which may be addressed using said predetermined number of address bits in said PHY management messages;
• said controller being operative to produce bus selection output signals and said control logic being responsive to said bus selection output signals to selectively couple one of said plurality of serial bidirectional control buses to said second bus interface to permit message communication between said controller and a specified one of said at least one PHY coupled to the selected serial bidirectional control bus;
• said controller being operative to store information corresponding to at least a portion of a PHY management message within a transmit descripter associated with said serial peripheral interface and to forward a command to said serial peripheral interface to initiate transmission of said at least a portion of said PHY management message contained in said transmit descripter to a selected PHY coupled to one of said control buses specified by said bus selection output signals via said second bus interface, wherein said transmission over said second bus interface proceeds independently of, and concurrently with, said control program execution within said controller.

A method for addressing a greater number of PHYS in a telecommunications device than may be directly addressed employing a PHY management bus message using a predetermined number of address bits for PHY addressing, said method comprising the steps of:

• generating a selection signal having one of a plurality of possible signal states for selecting one control bus of a plurality of control buses as an active control bus, wherein a plurality of PHYS are in electrical communication with at least one of said plurality of control buses and at least one PHY is in electrical communication with each of said other control buses;
• decoding said selection signals to select said active control bus;
• and
• addressing a message to one PHY in electrical communication with said active control bus at one PHY address of a plurality of possible PHY addresses to permit communication of information between said processor and said one PHY coupled to the active control bus.

A method for concurrently managing ports and PHYS associated with said ports in a telecommunications device comprising the steps of:

• executing a program within a processor having a serial peripheral interface to manage the configuration of a plurality of ports of said device and to retrieve statistical information regarding the operation of at least some of said ports;
• loading a transmit descripter associated with the serial peripheral interface within said processor with information corresponding to at least a portion of a PHY management message;
• initiating the transmission by said serial peripheral interface of said at least a portion of said PHY management message to a PHY coupled to a PHY control bus in electrical communication with said serial peripheral interface;
• transmitting said at least a portion of said PHY management message to said PHY via said serial peripheral interface in response to said initiating step;
• continuing to execute said program within said processor concurrently with said transmitting step.