Method and apparatus for fast retraining of ethernet transceivers based on trickling error

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11115151-B1
Application number	US-201916362500-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 22, 2019
Priority date	Mar 22, 2019
Publication date	Sep 7, 2021
Grant date	Sep 7, 2021

Abstract

A method of operation for an Ethernet transceiver is disclosed. The method includes operating the Ethernet transceiver in a data mode, and triggering a fast retrain sequence of steps based on trickling error information. The triggering includes detecting error information, averaging the detected error information over a time interval to generate the trickling error information, comparing the averaged detected error information to a selected threshold value, and initiating the fast retrain sequence of steps based on the comparing.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of operation for an Ethernet transceiver, the method comprising:
operating the Ethernet transceiver in a data mode;
selecting a time interval for monitoring error information; and
triggering a fast retrain sequence by
detecting error information during the time interval,
averaging at least two non-consecutive frame errors in the detected error information over the time interval to generate trickling error information,
comparing the trickling error information to a selected threshold value, and
performing the fast retrain sequence-based on the comparing.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the error information comprises an error predictor.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the error information comprises Low-Density Parity Check (LDPC) error code information.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the error information comprises LDPC loop iteration information.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
operating the Ethernet transceiver in accordance with an NBASE-T Ethernet protocol.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
prior to operating the Ethernet transceiver in the data mode, performing a full training sequence.

7. An integrated circuit (IC) Ethernet transceiver chip comprising:
training logic to trigger a fast retrain sequence during a data mode, the training logic including
error detection circuitry to detect error information,
circuitry to average at least two non-consecutive frame errors in the detected error information over a user-selected time interval to generate trickling error information,
comparison circuitry to compare the trickling error information to a selected threshold value, and
circuitry to perform the fast retrain sequence based on the comparing.

8. The IC Ethernet transceiver chip according to claim 7 , wherein the error information comprises an error predictor.

9. The IC Ethernet transceiver chip according to claim 7 , wherein:
the error detection circuitry comprises low density parity check (LDPC) decoding circuitry.

10. The IC Ethernet transceiver chip according to claim 7 , wherein the error information comprises Low-Density Parity Check (LDPC) error code information.

11. The IC Ethernet transceiver chip according to claim 7 , wherein the error information comprises LDPC loop iteration information.

12. The IC Ethernet transceiver chip according to claim 7 , realized as an NBASE-T IC Ethernet transceiver chip.

13. A method of operation for an Ethernet transceiver, the method comprising:
operating the Ethernet transceiver in a data mode;
selecting a time interval for monitoring error information;
establishing a consecutive frame error threshold and a trickling error threshold;
detecting error information;
averaging at least two non-consecutive frame errors in the error information over the time interval to generate trickling error information, and
triggering a fast retrain sequence based on a comparison of the trickling error information during the time interval to the consecutive frame error threshold and the trickling error threshold.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the detecting error information comprises:
detecting an error predictor.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the error predictor is based on a detected signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) along a channel coupled to the Ethernet transceiver.

Assignees

• Aquantia Corp
• Marvell Asia Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Razavi Majomard Seid Alireza
• Sedarat Hossein

Classifications

• H04L1/203 Primary

  Details of error rate determination, e.g. BER, FER or WER · CPC title

• H04L1/0045

  Arrangements at the receiver end · CPC title

• H04L1/0041 Primary

  Arrangements at the transmitter end · CPC title

• H04L1/0046

  Code rate detection or code type detection (H04L1/0038 takes precedence; detection of the data rate H04L25/0262; for packet format H04L1/0091) · CPC title

• H04L25/023

  with extension to other symbols · CPC title