Transparent auto-negotiation of Ethernet

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9699033-B2
Application number	US-201615287182-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 6, 2016
Priority date	Sep 10, 2012
Publication date	Jul 4, 2017
Grant date	Jul 4, 2017

Abstract

A system for negotiating Ethernet link settings between interconnected nodes in a network having an Ethernet protocol stack that includes a PCS sub-layer with an auto-negotiation function. The system comprises connecting an intermediate device coupled between two network nodes via optical or copper interfaces, with the link settings between each node and the connected intermediate device being the same, thereby bypassing the auto-negotiation of the PCS sub-layer in the intermediate device. The intermediate device may transparently send negotiation messages from each node to the other during the link negotiation phase without interacting with those messages. Instead of the intermediate device, a single form pluggable (SFP) device may be connected between the two network nodes via optical or copper interfaces on the network side and via an SFP slot on the device side.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for negotiating Ethernet settings in a network, the system comprising:
a first network device and a second network device, both comprising an Ethernet protocol stack comprising physical coding sub-layer with an auto-negotiation function;
an intermediate device connected to the first network device and the second network device, the intermediate device comprising:
a first network interface coupled to the first network device and a second network interface coupled to said second network device, said first network interface and said second network interface both comprising an Ethernet protocol stack comprising a physical coding sub-layer with a function that acts as a switch;
said switch coupled between said first network interface and said second network interface for communication of the intermediate device; and
a management module, coupled to said switch, for:
receiving auto-configuration codes from said first network interface and said second network interface;
monitoring said auto-configuration codes to determine an auto-configuration status of said first network device and said second network device; and,
upon detecting that said auto-configuration status is incomplete, programming said switch into a configuration mode; and,
upon detecting that said auto-configuration status is complete, programming said switch into a data mode and configuring said protocol stack of the intermediate device to be compatible with said auto-configuration codes; wherein:
while said switch is in said configuration mode, said auto-configuration codes are received from said first network device to said second network device and said auto-configuration codes are received from said second network device to said first network device without modification of the received auto-configuration codes and bypassing an auto-negotiation function of the physical coding sub-layer of said intermediate device; and
when said intermediate device couples while said switch is in said data mode, said first network interface and said second network interface couple with a media access control (MAC) layer of said Ethernet protocol stack of said intermediate device via said switch.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein said intermediate device is a small-form factor pluggable (SFP) transceiver.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein said SFP has one port connected in the first device and the other port connected to the network.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the SFP transceiver is an optical transceiver.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein said first device and said second device are connected to said intermediate device via an interface selected from an optical interface, a copper interface, and a combination thereof.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the Ethernet settings are selected from the group consisting of speed, half or full duplex, master clock, slave clock, and other parameters.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate device comprises a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), central processing unit (CPU), or combination thereof.

8. A system for negotiating Ethernet settings in a network, the system comprising:
a first network device and a second network device, both comprising an Ethernet protocol stack comprising physical coding sub-layer with an auto-negotiation function;
an intermediate device connected to the first network device and the second network device, the intermediate device comprising:
a first network interface coupled to the first network device and a second network interface coupled to said second network device, said first network interface and said second network interface both comprising an Ethernet protocol stack comprising a physical coding sub-layer with a function that acts as a switch;
said switch coupled between said first network interface and said second network interface for communication of the intermediate device; and
a management module, coupled to said switch, for:
receiving auto-configuration codes from said first network interface and said second network interface;
monitoring said auto-configuration codes to determine an auto-configuration status of said first network device and said second network device; and,
upon detecting that said auto-configuration status is incomplete, programming said switch into a configuration mode; and,
upon detecting that said auto-configuration status is complete, programming said switch into a data mode and configuring said protocol stack of the intermediate device to be compatible with said auto-configuration codes;

wherein:
while said switch is in said configuration mode, said auto-configuration codes are received from said first network device to said second network device and said auto-configuration codes are received from said second network device to said first network device without modification of the received auto-configuration codes and modifying an auto-negotiation function of the physical coding sub-layer of said intermediate device; and
when said intermediate device couples while said switch is in said data mode, said first network interface and said second network interface couple with a media access control (MAC) layer of said Ethernet protocol stack of said intermediate device via said switch.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein said intermediate device is a small-form factor pluggable (SFP) transceiver.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein said SFP has one port connected in the first device and the other port connected to the network.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the SFP transceiver is an optical transceiver.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein said first device and said second device are connected to said intermediate device via an interface selected from an optical interface, a copper interface, and a combination thereof.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the Ethernet settings are selected from the group consisting of speed, half or full duplex, master clock, slave clock, and other parameters.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the intermediate device comprises a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), central processing unit (CPU), or combination thereof.

15. The system of claim 8 , wherein said modifying said auto-negotiation function comprises replacing the auto-negotiation function with a function that acts as a programmable switch for an interface provided by a physical medium attachment (PMA) layer.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the interface provided by the PMA layer is an 8-bit interface.

Assignees

• Accedian Networks Inc

Inventors

• Robitaille Claude
• Rochon Steve

Classifications

• H04L49/3054

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

• H04L12/462

  LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone · CPC title

• H04L5/1438 Primary

  Negotiation of transmission parameters prior to communication (modified according to link quality H04L1/0001) · CPC title

• H04L41/0853

  by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information · CPC title

• H04L41/0886 Primary

  Fully automatic configuration · CPC title