US 6,275,501 B1 · Media access controller capable of connecting to a serial physical layer device and a media independent interface (MII) physical layer device

Abstract

A network node includes a serial physical sublayer (PHY) chip, a parallel PHY chip, and a media access control (MAC) chip. The serial physical sublayer chip, includes a single bit transmit data input, a single bit receive data output, and serial PHY control signal input/output (I/O) lines. The parallel PHY chip includes a multi-bit transmit data input, a multi-bit receive data output, and parallel PHY control signal I/O lines. The MAC chip includes a multi-bit transmit data output, a multi-bit receive data input and parallel control signal I/O lines. The multi-bit transmit data output is connected to the multi-bit transmit data input. One bit of the multi-bit transmit data output is connected to the single bit transmit data input. The multi-bit receive data input is connected to the multi-bit receive data output. One bit of the multi-bit receive data input is connected to the single bit receive data output. The parallel control signal I/O lines are connected to the parallel PHY control signal I/O lines. A subset of the parallel control signal I/O lines are connected to the serial PHY control signal I/O lines.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A network node comprising:

a serial physical sublayer (PHY) chip, comprising:
a single bit transmit data input,
a single bit receive data output, and
serial PHY control signal input/output (I/O) lines;
a parallel PHY chip, comprising:
a multi-bit transmit data input,
a multi-bit receive data output, and
parallel PHY control signal I/O lines;
and,
a media access control (MAC) chip, comprising:
a multi-bit transmit data output, the multi-bit transmit data output being coupled to the multi-bit transmit data input, and one bit of the multi-bit transmit data output being coupled to the single bit transmit data input,
a multi-bit receive data input, the multi-bit receive data input being coupled to the multi-bit receive data output, and one bit of the multi-bit receive data input being coupled to the single bit receive data output, and
parallel control signal I/O lines, the parallel control signal I/O lines being coupled to the parallel PHY control signal I/O lines.

10 more elements

A network interface controller, comprising:

a multi-bit transmit data output, the multi-bit transmit data output being for connection to a multi-bit transmit data input of a parallel network interface, and a single bit of the multi-bit transmit data output being for connection to a single bit transmit data input of a serial network interface;
a multi-bit receive data input, the multi-bit receive data input being for connection to a multi-bit receive data output of the parallel network interface, and one bit of the multi-bit receive data input being for connection to a single bit receive data output of the serial network interface;
parallel control signal input/output (I/O) lines, the parallel control signal I/O lines being for connection to parallel network interface control signal I/O lines of the parallel network interface;
and,
isolation means for electrically isolating the single bit transmit data input and the single bit receive data output when data is being transmitted between the parallel network interface and the network interface controller.

2 more elements

A method for using a network interface controller with both a parallel network interface and a serial network interface, comprising the steps of:

(a) connecting a multi-bit transmit data output of the network interface controller to a multi-bit transmit data input of the parallel network interface;
(b) connecting a single bit of the multi-bit transmit data output to a single bit transmit data input of a serial network interface;
(c) connecting a multi-bit receive data input of the network interface controller to a multi-bit receive data output of the parallel network interface;
(d) connecting one bit of the multi-bit receive data input to a single bit receive data output of the serial network interface;
(e) connecting parallel control signal input/output (I/O) lines of the network interface controller to parallel network interface control signal I/O lines;
and,
(f) electrically isolating the single bit transmit data input and the single bit receive data output when data is being transmitted between the parallel network interface and the network interface controller.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Media access controller capable of connecting to a serial physical layer device and a media independent interface (MII) physical layer device

Life of this patent

Media access controller capable of connecting to a serial physical layer device and a media independent interface (MII) physical layer device

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20