Technologies for autonegotiating 10G and 1G serial communications over copper cable

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10374897-B2
Application number	US-201816044122-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 24, 2018
Priority date	Dec 3, 2014
Publication date	Aug 6, 2019
Grant date	Aug 6, 2019

Abstract

Technologies for autonegotiation of communications operational modes over copper cable include a network port logic having a communication link coupled to a remote link partner. The network port logic may start an autonegotiation protocol upon reset, when the link is broken, or upon manual renegotiation. The network port logic transmits an autonegotiation page to the remote link partner that indicates single-lane communications ability over copper cable. The network port logic receives an autonegotiation page from the link partner indicating single-lane communications ability over copper cable. If the network port logic and link partner have a common single-lane communication ability, the link may be activated. The autonegotiation pages may be base pages or next pages. The single-lane communication ability may be indicated by one or more bits of the autonegotation pages. The link may be established at 1 gigabit or 10 gigabits per second. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A network interface circuit for link technology autonegotiation, the network interface circuit comprising:
a network port logic comprising an autonegotiation logic, wherein the autonegotiation logic is to:
transmit a first autonegotiation page to a remote link partner, wherein the first autonegotiation page is indicative of a first operational mode, wherein the first operational mode includes single-lane communication over copper cable, and wherein the first autonegotiation page comprises a next page that includes a technology bit that is indicative of the first operational mode;
receive a second autonegotiation page from the remote link partner, wherein the second autonegotiation page is indicative of the first operational mode, and wherein the second autonegotiation page comprises a next page that includes a technology bit that is indicative of the first operational mode; and
activate a communication link with the remote link partner using the first operational mode over a copper cable medium in response to receipt of the second autonegotiation page.

2. The network interface circuit of claim 1 , wherein the first operational mode comprises a 10-gigabit single-lane communication using the copper cable medium.

3. The network interface circuit of claim 1 , wherein the first operational mode comprises a 1-gigabit single-lane communication using the copper cable medium.

4. The network interface circuit of claim 1 , wherein:
the first autonegotiation page further comprises a message code field indicative of a first unique identifier; and
the second autonegotiation page further comprises a message code field indicative of the first unique identifier.

5. The network interface circuit of claim 1 , wherein the autonegotiation logic is further to:
transmit a third autonegotiation page to the remote link partner, wherein the third autonegotiation page comprises a message code field indicative of an organizationally unique identifier tagged message code and an unformatted code indicative of an organizationally unique identifier; and
receive a fourth autonegotiation page from the remote link partner, wherein the fourth autonegotiation page comprises a message code field indicative of the organizationally unique identifier tagged message code and an unformatted code indicative of the organizationally unique identifier.

6. The network interface circuit of claim 1 , wherein the autonegotiation logic is further to:
transmit a first base page to the remote link partner, wherein the first base page is indicative of a second operational mode, wherein the second operational mode includes multi-lane communication over copper cable; and
receive a second base page from the remote link partner, wherein the second base page is indicative of the second operational mode.

7. The network interface circuit of claim 6 , wherein the second operational mode comprises 40-gigabit multi-lane communication using the copper cable medium.

8. The network interface circuit of claim 6 , wherein the second operational mode comprises 100-gigabit multi-lane communication using the copper cable medium.

9. The network interface circuit of claim 6 , wherein the autonegotiation logic is further to:
select the first operational mode in response to receipt of the second autonegotiation page and in response to receipt of the second base page;
wherein to activate the communication link comprises to activate the communication link in response to selection of the first operational mode.

10. A method for link technology autonegotiation, the method comprising:
transmitting, by a network port logic, a first autonegotiation page to a remote link partner, wherein the first autonegotiation page is indicative of a first operational mode, wherein the first operational mode includes single-lane communication over copper cable, and wherein the first autonegotiation page comprises a next page that includes a technology bit that is indicative of the first operational mode;
receiving, by the network port logic, a second autonegotiation page from the remote link partner, wherein the second autonegotiation page is indicative of the first operational mode, and wherein the second autonegotiation page comprises a next page that includes a technology bit that is indicative of the first operational mode; and
activating, by the network port logic, a communication link with the remote link partner using the first operational mode over a copper cable medium in response to receiving the second autonegotiation page.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first operational mode comprises a 10-gigabit single-lane communication using the copper cable medium.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first operational mode comprises a 1-gigabit single-lane communication using the copper cable medium.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
transmitting, by the network port logic, a first base page to the remote link partner, wherein the first base page is indicative of a second operational mode, wherein the second operational mode includes multi-lane communication over copper cable; and
receiving, by the network port logic, a second base page from the remote link partner, wherein the second base page is indicative of the second operational mode.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
selecting, by the network port logic, the first operational mode in response to receiving the second autonegotiation page and in response to receiving the second base page;
wherein activating the communication link comprises activating the communication link in response to selecting the first operational mode.

15. One or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed cause a computing device to:
transmit a first autonegotiation page to a remote link partner, wherein the first autonegotiation page is indicative of a first operational mode, wherein the first operational mode includes single-lane communication over copper cable, and wherein the first autonegotiation page comprises a next page that includes a technology bit that is indicative of the first operational mode;
receive a second autonegotiation page from the remote link partner, wherein the second autonegotiation page is indicative of the first operational mode, and wherein the second autonegotiation page comprises a next page that includes a technology bit that is indicative of the first operational mode; and
activate a communication link with the remote link partner using the first operational mode over a copper cable medium in response to transmitting the first autonegotiation page and receiving the second autonegotiation page.

16. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 15 , wherein the first operational mode comprises a 10-gigabit single-lane communication using the copper cable medium.

17. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 15 , wherein the first operational mode comprises a 1-gigabit single-lane communication using the copper cable medium.

18. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 15 , wherein:
the first autonegotiation page further comprises a message code field indicative of a first unique identifier; and
the second autonegotiation page further comprises a message code field indicative of the first unique identifier.

19. The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 15 , further comprisin

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Lusted Kent C
• Ran Adee O

Classifications

• H04L49/3054

  Auto-negotiation, e.g. access control between switch gigabit interface connector [GBIC] and link · CPC title

• H04L41/0886 Primary

  Fully automatic configuration · CPC title

• H04L69/24

  Negotiation of communication capabilities · CPC title