Inter-repeater backplane with synchronous/asynchronous dual mode operation

Claim 1

An inter-repeater backplane for connecting a plurality of repeaters that receive data packets, recover the data therein, and repeat the recovered data over the backplane, the inter-repeater backplane comprising: an inter-repeater bus of electrical signal conductors coupling a plurality of repeaters for transmitting data therebetween, wherein the bus of electrical signal conductors comprises a bus activity signal conductor for providing distributed arbitration, wherein collisions are communicated using a single, three-level analog signal; a system clock, coupled to the bus, for providing master timing signals common to the plurality of repeaters; means, coupled to the bus, for selecting a mode of data transmission; and transmission means, coupled to the selection means, for transmitting data using a first synchronous data transmission mode wherein a first repeater receives and recovers data, the received and recovered data being retransmitted by a second repeater synchronously with respect to the system clock second repeater for later retransmission of the data, the second repeater retransmitting the data without retiming and a second and a second asynchronous data transmission mode wherein data received and recovered by the first repeater is retransmitted by a second repeater asynchronously with respect to the system clock; wherein the bus activity signal conductor allows the selected mode of data retransmission to occur between the plurality of repeaters via the distributed arbitration communicated by the single, three-level analog signal.

Claim 13

A method for transmitting data between a plurality of repeaters, the method comprising the steps: selecting a data transmission mode of a plurality of repeaters for transmitting data over a inter-repeater backplane, a first mode being synchronous data transmission and a second mode being asynchronous data transmission; providing a system timing signal; providing a plurality of independent repeater clock signals, each of the plurality of independent repeater clock signals being associated with one of the plurality of repeaters, and each of the independent repeater clock signals being asynchronous to the system timing signal; recovering data from a data packet received by a first of the plurality of repeaters; transmitting the recovered data synchronously with respect to the system timing signal over the inter-repeater backplane from the first repeater to a second repeater for retransmission in response to the first mode of data transmission being selected, the data being repeated by the second repeater sychronously with the first system clock; and transmitting the recovered data asynchronously with respect to the system timing signal over the inter-repeater backplane from the first repeater to the second repeater for retransmission in response to the second mode of data transmission being selected, the second repeater retiming the data to the independent repeater clock signal associated with the second repeater before retransmission by the second repeater.

Claim 14

A method for transmitting data between a plurality of repeaters, the method comprising the steps: selecting a data transmission mode of a plurality of repeaters for transmitting data over a inter-repeater backplane, a first mode being synchronous data transmission and a second mode being asynchronous data transmission; providing a system timing signal; providing a plurality of independent repeater clock signals, each of the plurality of independent repeater clock signals being associated with one of the plurality of repeaters, and each of the independent repeater clock signals being asynchronous to the system timing signal; recovering data from a data packet received by a first of the plurality of repeaters; transmitting the recovered data synchronously with respect to the system timing signal over the inter-repeater backplane from the first repeater to a second repeater for retransmission in response to the first mode of data transmission being selected, the data being repeated by the second repeater sychronously with the first system clock; and transmitting the recovered data asynchronously with respect to the system timing signal over the inter-repeater backplane from the first repeater to the second repeater for retransmission in response to the second mode of data transmission being selected, the second repeater retiming the data to the independent repeater clock signal associated with the second repeater before retransmission by the second repeater.

Claim 15

A method for transmitting data between a plurality of repeaters over an inter-repeater backplane bus, the method comprising the steps: selecting the mode of data transmission, a first mode being synchronous data transmission and a second mode being asynchronous data transmission; recovering data from a data packet received by a first of the plurality of repeaters; regenerating a preamble for the recovered data; framing the recovered data; providing a system timing signal; transmitting the recovered data synchronously with respect to the system timing signal from the first repeater to a second repeater for retransmission in response to the first mode of data transmission being selected, the data being retransmitted by the second repeater synchronously with the system timing signal; and transmitting the recovered data from the first repeater to the second repeater for retransmission by the second repeater according to an independent repeater clock in response to the second mode of data transmission being selected, the second repeater retiming the data to the independent repeater clock before retransmission by the second repeater.

Claim 16

A method for transmitting data between a plurality of repeaters over an inter-repeater backplane bus, the method comprising the steps: selecting the mode of data transmission, a first mode being synchronous data transmission and a second mode being asynchronous data transmission; recovering data from a data packet received by a first of the plurality of repeaters; regenerating a preamble for the recovered data; framing the recovered data; providing a system timing signal; transmitting the recovered data synchronously with respect to the system timing signal from the first repeater to a second repeater for retransmission in response to the first mode of data transmission being selected, the data being retransmitted by the second repeater synchronously with the system timing signal; and transmitting the recovered data from the first repeater to the second repeater for retransmission by the second repeater according to an independent repeater clock in response to the second mode of data transmission being selected, the second repeater retiming the data to the independent repeater clock before retransmission by the second repeater.

Claim 17

A method for transmitting data between a plurality of repeaters, the method comprising the steps: selecting the mode of data transmission, a first mode being synchronous data transmission and a second mode being asynchronous data transmission; recovering data from a data packet received by a first of the plurality of repeaters; regenerating a preamble for the recovered data; framing the recovered data; providing a first system timing signal, the first system timing signal being shared by the plurality of repeaters; providing a second independent timing signal to each of the repeaters, the second independent timing signal being asynchronous to the first system timing signal; transmitting the data synchronously with respect to the first system timing signal in response to the first mode of data transmission being selected, the synchronous data transmission requiring the retiming of the recovered data to the first system timing signal and transmitting the retimed data over the bus from the first repeater to a second repeater, the transmitted retimed data being retransmitted by the second repeater synchronously with respect to the first system timing signal; and transmitting the data asynchronously with respect to the first system timing signal in response to the second mode of data transmission being selected, the asynchronous data transmission requiring the retiming of the recovered data to the second independent timing signal before retransmission by the second repeater.

Claim 18

A method for transmitting data between a plurality of repeaters, the method comprising the steps: selecting the mode of data transmission, a first mode being synchronous data transmission and a second mode being asynchronous data transmission; recovering data from a data packet received by a first of the plurality of repeaters; regenerating a preamble for the recovered data; framing the recovered data; providing a first system timing signal, the first system timing signal being shared by the plurality of repeaters; providing a second independent timing signal to each of the repeaters, the second independent timing signal being asynchronous to the first system timing signal; transmitting the data synchronously with respect to the first system timing signal in response to the first mode of data transmission being selected, the synchronous data transmission requiring the retiming of the recovered data to the first system timing signal and transmitting the retimed data over the bus from the first repeater to a second repeater, the transmitted retimed data being retransmitted by the second repeater synchronously with respect to the first system timing signal; and transmitting the data asynchronously with respect to the first system timing signal in response to the second mode of data transmission being selected, the asynchronous data transmission requiring the retiming of the recovered data to the second independent timing signal before retransmission by the second repeater.