Method and system for link adaptive Ethernet communications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9515843-B2
Application number	US-62534209-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 24, 2009
Priority date	Jun 22, 2006
Publication date	Dec 6, 2016
Grant date	Dec 6, 2016

Abstract

Aspects of a method and system for link adaptive Ethernet communications are provided. In this regard, characteristics of a cable attached to a network device may be determined, and the network device may be configured based on the determined characteristics. One or more of a plurality of Ethernet PHYs within the network device may be selected to be utilized for communicating over the cable based on the determined characteristics of the cable. The selected Ethernet PHYs may be configured based on the determined characteristics. A modulation scheme utilized by the selected Ethernet PHYs may be configured based on the determined characteristics. A modulation scheme utilized by each of the selected Ethernet PHYs may be configured independently from a modulation scheme utilized by other ones of the selected Ethernet PHYs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
determining characteristics of a network cable attached to a network device, the network cable comprising a plurality of twisted wire pairs, and the network device comprising a plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices;
configuring two or more of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices for data transmission operation over the network cable using the determined characteristics of the network cable, a first of the two or more of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices operating in a baseband frequency spectrum of the plurality of twisted wire pairs, and a second of the two or more of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices operating in a second frequency spectrum of the plurality of twisted wire pairs, the second frequency spectrum higher in frequency as compared to the baseband frequency spectrum; and
transmitting over the network cable using the configured two or more of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices, the first of the two or more of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices transmitting data at a higher data rate than the second of the two or more of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices in response to the first of the two or more of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices operating in a lower frequency spectrum than the second of the two or more of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuring comprises configuring a modulation scheme for the first of the two or more baseband Ethernet physical layer devices and for the second of the two or more baseband Ethernet physical layer devices using the determined characteristics.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first of the two or more baseband Ethernet physical layer devices uses a first modulation scheme, and the second of the two or more baseband Ethernet physical layer devices uses a second modulation scheme, the first modulation scheme different from the second modulation scheme.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the characteristics include a category of the network cable.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the characteristics include whether the network cable is shielded.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the characteristics include a length of the network cable.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuring comprises configuring a baseband Ethernet physical layer device using interference present on the network cable.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuring comprises configuring a baseband Ethernet physical layer device to operate in a duplex or simplex mode using the determined characteristics.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices has a M Gbit/s data transmission capacity, M being a number.

10. A system for networking, the system comprising:
one or more processors and/or circuits for use in a network device, the one or more processors and/or circuits configured to:
determine characteristics of a network cable attached to the network device, the network cable comprising a plurality of twisted wire pairs, and the network device comprising a plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices;
configure two or more of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices for data transmission operation over the network cable using the determined characteristics of the network cable, wherein a first of the two or more of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices is configured to operate in a baseband frequency spectrum of the plurality of twisted wire pairs, and a second of the two or more of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices is configured to operate in a second frequency spectrum of the plurality of twisted wire pairs, the second frequency spectrum higher in frequency as compared to the baseband frequency spectrum; and
transmit over the network cable using the configured two or more of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices, wherein the first of the two or more of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices is configured to transmit data at a higher data rate than the second of the two or more of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices in response to the first of the two or more of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices operating in a lower frequency spectrum than the second of the two or more of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices.

11. The system according to claim 10 , further comprising the one or more processors and/or circuits configured to configure a modulation scheme for the first of the two or more baseband Ethernet physical layer devices and for the second of the two or more baseband Ethernet physical layer devices using the determined characteristics.

12. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the first of the two or more baseband Ethernet physical layer devices uses a first modulation scheme, and the second of the two or more baseband Ethernet physical layer devices uses a second modulation scheme, the first modulation scheme different from the second modulation scheme.

13. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the characteristics include a category of the network cable.

14. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the characteristics include whether the network cable is shielded.

15. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the characteristics include a length of the network cable.

16. The system according to claim 10 , wherein each of the plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices has a M Gbit/s data transmission capacity, M being a number.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having machine instructions stored therein, the instructions when executed by one or more processors, causing the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
determining characteristics of a network cable attached to a network device, the network cable comprising a plurality of twisted wire pairs, and the network device including a plurality of baseband Ethernet physical layer devices comprising a first baseband Ethernet physical layer device and a second baseband Ethernet physical layer device;
configuring the first baseband Ethernet physical layer device and the second baseband Ethernet physical layer device for data transmission operation over the network cable using the determined characteristics of the network cable, the first baseband Ethernet physical layer device operating in a baseband frequency spectrum of the plurality of twisted wire pairs, and the second baseband Ethernet physical layer device operating in a second frequency spectrum of the plurality of twisted wire pairs, the second frequency spectrum higher in frequency as compared to the baseband frequency spectrum; and
transmitting over the network cable using the first baseband Ethernet physical layer device and the second baseband Ethernet physical layer device, the first baseband Ethernet physical layer device transmitting data at a higher data rate than the second baseband Ethernet physical layer device in response to the first baseband Ethernet physical layer device operating in a lower frequency spectrum than the second baseband Ethernet physical layer device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the configuring comprises configuring a modulation scheme for the first baseband Ethernet physical l

Assignees

• Diab Wael William
• Powell Scott
• Broadcom Corp

Inventors

• Diab Wael William
• Powell Scott

Classifications

• H04L12/40136 Primary

  Nodes adapting their rate to the physical link properties (LAN switches H04L49/351) · CPC title

• H04L1/001

  applied to control information · CPC title