System and method of providing electrical isolation
First Claim
1. A powered device comprising:
- an input/output (I/O) interface adapted to couple to a network cable to receive power and data;
a physical transport layer (PHY) circuit including multiple channels coupled to the I/O interface, the PHY circuit adapted to send data to and receive data from a network device via the multiple channels;
a processing logic circuit;
a multiplexer circuit coupled to the PHY circuit to multiplex data from the multiple channels into a multiplexed data stream for transmission to the processing logic circuit; and
an isolation barrier circuit coupled between the multiplexer circuit and the processing logic circuit, the isolation barrier adapted to electrically isolate the processing logic circuit from the multiplexer circuit, the PHY circuit, and the I/O interface.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a particular embodiment, a system includes an input/output (I/O) interface adapted to couple to a network cable to receive power and data and includes a physical transport layer (PHY) circuit including multiple channels coupled to the I/O interface. The PHY circuit is adapted to send data to and receive data from a network device via the multiple channels. The system further includes a multiplexer circuit coupled to the PHY circuit to multiplex data from the multiple channels into a multiplexed data stream and includes an isolation barrier circuit coupled to the multiplexer circuit and to a particular circuit. The isolation barrier is adapted to electrically isolate a particular circuit from the multiplexer circuit, the PHY circuit, and the I/O interface.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A powered device comprising:
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an input/output (I/O) interface adapted to couple to a network cable to receive power and data; a physical transport layer (PHY) circuit including multiple channels coupled to the I/O interface, the PHY circuit adapted to send data to and receive data from a network device via the multiple channels; a processing logic circuit; a multiplexer circuit coupled to the PHY circuit to multiplex data from the multiple channels into a multiplexed data stream for transmission to the processing logic circuit; and an isolation barrier circuit coupled between the multiplexer circuit and the processing logic circuit, the isolation barrier adapted to electrically isolate the processing logic circuit from the multiplexer circuit, the PHY circuit, and the I/O interface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A circuit device for use within a powered device, the circuit device comprising:
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a physical transport layer (PHY) circuit including multiple channels coupled to an I/O interface, the PHY circuit adapted to send data to and receive data from a network device via the multiple channels; a multiplexer circuit coupled to the PHY circuit to multiplex data from the multiple channels onto a bidirectional input/output (I/O) interface bus; and a digital isolation barrier circuit coupled to the bidirectional I/O interface bus and adapted to electrically isolate processing logic from the multiplexer circuit, the PHY circuit, and the I/O interface. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of providing electrical isolation, the method comprising:
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receiving data via multiple channels from an input/output (I/O) interface at a physical transport layer (PHY) circuit of a powered device; multiplexing the data from the multiple channels into a multiplexed data stream for transmission via a media independent interface (MII) bus using a multiplexer coupled to the PHY circuit; and electrically isolating the PHY circuit from media access control (MAC) circuitry coupled to the MII bus using a digital isolation barrier coupled between the multiplexer and the MAC circuitry. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification