System, method and device for autonegotiation

• US 7,720,135 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2004
• Issued: 05/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Booth, Bradley J., Ganga, Ilango S., Chang, Luke
• Primary Examiner(s): Payne; David C
• Assistant Examiner(s): DSOUZA, JOSEPH FRANCIS A
• Application Number:
  US10/801,504
• Publication Number:
  US 20050111531A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,255 Days
• Field of Search: 370/296, 370/389, 370/397, 370/433, 710/58
• US Class Current: 375/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40136 Nodes adapting their rate to the physical link properties LAN switches H04L49/351
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge

Abstract

Disclosed are a system, method and device for negotiating a data transmission mode over an attachment unit interface (DDI). A data transceiver circuit may be coupled to one or more data lanes of the DDI. A negotiation section may receive a link pulse signal on at least one data lane in the DDI during a negotiation period and selectively configure the data transceiver to transmit and receive data on one or more data lanes according to a data transmission mode based upon the received link pulse signal.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

(a) a media independent interface;

(b) auto-negotiation circuitry to couple to multiple data lanes of a printed circuit board having conductive traces providing the multiple data lanes, each of the multiple data lanes to carry respective encoded symbol values; and

(c) interposed between and coupled to the media independent interface and the auto-negotiation circuitry, multiple sets of PHY components, each set comprising;

(1) a physical coding section (PCS); and

(2) a physical medium attachment (PMA) section;

coupled to the PCS;

wherein the auto-negotiation circuitry comprises logic configured to;

send transmission capabilities encoded as bits in a link base code word to a partner device coupled to the printed circuit board, the transmission capabilities including at least one 1-Gigabit/second capability, at least one 10-Gigabit/second capability, and at least one four-data lane communication capability over the printed circuit board wherein the auto-negotiation circuitry sends transmission capabilities over a single of the four-data lanes;

receive transmission capabilities encoded as bits in a link base code word from the partner device;

select a highest common denominator transmission capability according to a priority scheme of the transmission capabilities sent to the partner device and the transmission capabilities received from the partner device; and

configure transmit and receive functions of the multiple sets of PHY components based on the selected highest common denominator transmission capability.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a first media access control (MAC) device coupled to the media independent interface; and

a packet classification ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising circuitry for a parallel detect function to enable communication with a device that does not support auto-negotiation.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the system comprises a line card, the line card having an input port to receive network data from a remote network node not coupled to the printed circuit board.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the input port comprises an input port for an optical data link.