Method and apparatus for a Gigabit Ethernet MAC (GMAC)
AssigneeNortel Networks Limited
InventorVan Hunter
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for a media access controller supporting redundant links are provided. According to one aspect of the present invention a media access controller includes a two transceivers for communication with an source and/or destination port. Each transceiver has a receiver and transmitter. When the media access controller sets up a physical link to the desired source and/or destination port each transceiver sets up a separate physical link to the source and/or destination port. One of the physical links is the primary physical link and the other is a redundant or backup physical link. By using two physical links if a failure of interrupt occurs on the primary physical link then a switch-over is performed to use the redundant physical link.
Claims22
Adapted for communication with an input/output (I/O) device, a media access controller comprising;
- a first transceiver having a first receiver and a first transmitter, the first transceiver being configured to send and receive data from a destination port;
- a second transceiver having a second receiver and a second transmitter, the second transceiver being configured to send and receive data from the destination port;
- wherein said first transceiver and said second transceiver establish a first physical link and a second physical link with the destination port such that if one of said first physical link and said second physical link is active and a link interruption occurs said media access controller may switch to the other of said first physical link and said second physical link as a backup link;
- and
- a CPU interface for providing interrupts to at least one of the first receiver and the second receiver in response selectable status events including the link interruption and failure of the I/O device.
Adapted for communication with an input/output (I/O) device over a link, a media access controller comprising:
- a first transceiver having a first receive bus interface (RXIN-A) and a first transmit bus interface (TXOUT-A), the first transceiver configured to receive and send a data to the I/O device;
- a second transceiver having a second receive bus interface (RXIN-B) and a second transmit bus interface (TXOUT-B), the second transceiver configured to receive and send data from the I/O device;
- wherein one of said first and second transceivers acts as a primary transceiver and the other of said first and second transceivers acts as a backup transceiver, said primary transceiver is capable of being switched to an off-line status and said backup transceiver is capable of being switched to an on-line status when an interrupt occurs;
- a CPU interface for providing interrupts to at least one receiver of said first and second transceivers in response to selectable status events including a failure of the link or a configuration change of the I/O device;
- a receiver output for transmitting data to a port interface device;
- and
- a transmit input (TXIN) for accepting packet data from a port interface device.
A method comprising:
- creating a first link between an input/output (I/O) device and a media access controller using a first transceiver including a first receiver and a first transmitter, the first receiver being capable of detecting an error event including a failure of the first link;
- creating a second link between the I/O device and the media access controller using a second transceiver including a second receiver and a second transmitter;
- detecting the error event by the first receiver and outputting a control signal to logic external from said media access controller over a channel separate from said first link and said second link;
- receiving an interrupt by said first receiver in response to the control signal;
- and
- switching from said first link to said second link if the interrupt occurs due to failure of said first link.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.