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Multi-rate MAC to PHY interface

  • US 8,699,514 B2
  • Filed: 01/09/2008
  • Issued: 04/15/2014
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2007
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method to provide a multi-rate Media Access Control (MAC) layer interface utilizing a shared set of communication lanes, the method comprising:

  • receiving a first set of signals;

    sampling the first set of signals using a first MAC layer interface that corresponds to a first data rate and generating a first signal indicating whether the first set of signals correspond to the first MAC layer interface;

    sampling the first set of signals using a second MAC layer interface that corresponds to a second data rate and generating a second signal indicating whether the first set of signals correspond to the second MAC layer interface;

    generating a select signal indicating a mode from a plurality of modes to be used based on the first signal and the second signal; and

    transmitting the first set of signals using the first MAC layer interface or a subset of the first set of signals using the second MAC layer interface based on the mode indicated by the select signal;

    wherein each of the plurality of modes use the same shared set of communication lanes;

    wherein a first mode uses at least one communication lane of the shared set of communication lanes and a second mode uses the at least one communication lane of the first mode in addition to one or more additional communication lanes of the shared set of communication lanes; and

    wherein the first mode corresponds to the first data rate and the second mode corresponds to the second data rate that is higher than the first data rate.

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