Physical-layer device (PHY) having a serial interface and a magic packet circuit

A method comprising:

• providing a physical-layer device that includes a physical-layer core with a physical-layer input circuit;
• receiving from a network, into the physical-layer device, signals representing first data via the physical-layer input circuit;
• transmitting, from the physical-layer device, a serial stream of the first data to a media access controller via a serializer;
• determining whether the first data includes a magic packet by comparing a pattern of the first data with a predetermined pattern of the magic packet, wherein the predetermined pattern includes a destination media access controller address;
• generating a magic packet signal in the physical-layer device to transition, from being powered OFF to being powered ON, (i) the media access controller, and (ii) at least one interface between the physical-layer core and a media access core in the media access controller, wherein the magic packet signal is generated when (i) the first data has the predetermined pattern, (ii) an address of the first data is the destination media access controller address, and (iii) the destination media access controller address is an address of the media access controller;
• and
• ignoring packets received by the physical-layer input circuit that do not include the magic packet to prevent generating the magic packet signal, and
• wherein the media access controller is connected between the physical-layer device and a computer, and wherein packets of the first data are transmitted from the media access controller to the computer.

An apparatus comprising:

• a media access controller comprising a media access core;
• and
• a physical-layer device comprising
• a physical-layer core with physical-layer input means for receiving first signals from a network, the first signals representing first data,
• first serializer means for transmitting a serial stream of the first data from the physical-layer input means to the media access controller, and
• magic packet means for generating a magic packet signal in the physical-layer input means to transition, from being powered OFF to being powered ON, (i) the media access controller, and (ii) at least one interface between the physical-layer core of the physical-layer input means and the media access core,
• wherein the magic packet means (i) determines whether the first data includes a magic packet by comparing a pattern of the first data with a predetermined pattern of the magic packet, (ii) generates the magic packet signal when the first data includes has the predetermined pattern, and (iii) ignore packets received by the physical-layer input means that do not include the magic packet to prevent generating the magic packet signal, wherein the predetermined pattern includes a destination media access controller address, and
• wherein the magic packet means is configured to generate the magic packet signal when (i) an address of the first data is the destination media access controller address, and (ii) the destination media access controller address is an address of the media access controller, and
• wherein the media access controller is connected between the physical-layer device and a computer, and wherein packets of the first data are transmitted from the media access controller to the computer.

A network device configured to operate in a magic packet mode, wherein in response to the network device operating in the magic packet mode, the network device is operable to wake a computer from a sleep mode in response to the network device receiving a magic packet, the network device comprising:

• a physical-layer device, wherein the physical-layer device includes a physical-layer core configured to receive data from a network, wherein the data is received by the physical-layer core as ingressing packets from the network;
• a first serial data interface configured to transmit a serial stream of the data to a media access controller;
• and the media access controller, wherein the media access controller is connected between the physical-layer device and the computer, wherein packets of the data are transmitted from the media access controller to the computer, and wherein the media access controller includes a second serial data interface configured to receive the serial stream of the data transmitted from the first serial data interface, wherein the physical-layer device further includes a first power control circuit configured to power off the first serial data interface in response to the network device operating in the magic packet mode;
• and
• a magic packet circuit configured to, while the network device is operating in the magic packet mode, monitor the ingressing packets received by the physical-layer core for the magic packet, wherein the magic packet circuit is configured to detect the magic packet within the ingressing packets by comparing a pattern within each of the ingressing packets to a predetermined magic packet pattern, wherein the predetermined magic packet pattern includes a destination address associated with the media access controller,
• wherein in response to the magic packet circuit detecting the magic packet within the ingressing packets,
• the first power control circuit is configured to power on the first serial data interface, and
• the magic packet circuit is configured to wake the computer from the sleep mode, and
• wherein the magic packet circuit is configured to wake the computer from the sleep mode by (i) generating a magic packet signal, and (ii) sending the magic packet signal to the computer.