Lane-based multiplexing for physical links in serial attached small computer system interface architectures

A method comprising:

• time division multiplexing a physical link of a Serial Attached Small Computer System Interface (SAS) device into multiple lanes;
• manage a first SAS connection along one or more of the lanes of the physical link;
• detecting a request for a second SAS connection;
• determining a link rate for the second SAS connection;
• selecting a number of additional lanes at the physical link based on the link rate for the second SAS connection;
• and
• managing the second SAS connection along the additional lanes while the first connection is being managed.

A system comprising:

• a Serial Attached Small Computer System Interface (SAS) device comprising:
• a physical link that has been time division multiplexed into multiple lanes;
• and
• a controller operable to receive a stream of Serial Attached Small Computer System Interface dwords along the physical link, to detect a first SAS connection along the physical link, and to identify a number of lanes used to carry data for the first SAS connection,
• the controller further operable to detect data for a second SAS connection along the physical link that is multiplexed with data for the first connection, and to identify a number of additional lanes used to carry data for the second SAS connection.