US5754540A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Expandable integrated circuit multiport repeater controller with multiple media independent interfaces and mixed media connections
Assignee: Macronix America Inc
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Filing: 1995-07-18
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Granted: 1998-05-19
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Expires: 2015-07-18
Abstract
Abstract A 100BASE-T compliant integrated circuit multiport repeater provides one or more medium independent interfaces (MII's) and a plurality of physical interfaces. This facilitates connection of the repeater to one or more external medium access controller devices also implementing the MII standard. The multiport repeater device shares status, configuration and control management function of the MII among the plurality of physical ports. Therefore, only one MII physical address is needed for each multiport repeater, rather than for each physical transceiver in the system. The medium independent interfaces on the repeater chip share a number of pins and logic so that the total number of I/O pins required for a repeater chip according to the present invention with multiple medium independent interfaces is substantially reduced over a similar device which might have a plurality of independent medium independent interfaces. The user of the repeater is capable of configuring the chip to handle a variety of different kinds of physical communication medium on a port by port basis, using the MII management bus.
Inventors
- 👤 Chang-Chi Liu
- 👤 Ming-Chang Su
- 👤 Jung-Yu Lee
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 20:12
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04L; H04L25/00; H04L25/02; H04L25/20; H04B; H04B3/00; H04B3/02; H04B3/36; H04L12/00; H04L12/28; H04L12/44
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 37
Claim 1
Independent Claim
86 words
An integrated circuit repeater, comprising: a plurality of media dependent interfaces for connection to respective communication media; repeater circuitry coupled to the plurality of media dependent interfaces which perform physical layer repeater functions for the plurality of media dependent interfaces; and a media independent interface, having an appearance of an interface on a transceiver coupled with the repeater circuitry, for connection of the plurality of media dependent interfaces with a corresponding data link layer medium access controller which has a complement to the media independent interface.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
86 words
An integrated circuit repeater, comprising: a plurality of media dependent interfaces for connection to respective communication media; repeater circuitry coupled to the plurality of media dependent interfaces which perform physical layer repeater functions for the plurality of media dependent interfaces; and a media independent interface, having an appearance of an interface on a transceiver coupled with the repeater circuitry, for connection of the plurality of media dependent interfaces with a corresponding data link layer medium access controller which has a complement to the media independent interface.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
85 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 1, including: interface control logic, including interface control and status registers for the plurality of media dependent interfaces, which manages physical layer receive and transmit functions on the plurality of media dependent interfaces for variant types of communication media; and a management interface, coupled with the interface control logic, responsive to a repeater address received at the management interface, to provide read and write access to the interface control and status registers for the plurality of media dependent interfaces.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
46 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 2, wherein the interface control and status registers include: a first set of registers specifying shared attributes of the plurality of media dependent interfaces; and a second set of registers specifying individual attributes of the plurality of media dependent interfaces.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
31 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 2, wherein the management interface includes a serial port for reading and writing the interface control and status registers in response to the repeater address.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
25 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 4, including a plurality of status pins providing access to selected data in the interface control and status registers.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
65 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 2, wherein the interface control and status registers include a media type register which indicates one of a plurality of types of communication media for each of the plurality of media dependent interfaces, and wherein the interface control logic includes circuits responsive to the media type register which adapt the plurality of media dependent interfaces to the indicated types.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
38 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 1, including at least one additional media independent interface coupled with the repeater circuitry, for connection of the plurality of media dependent interfaces with an additional data link layer medium access controller.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
70 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 7, wherein said media independent interface includes a set of receive data output pins on the integrated circuit which supply received data to the corresponding data link layer medium access controller, and the additional media independent interface shares the set of receive data output pins with said media independent interface to supply received data to the additional data link layer medium access controller data.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
22 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 1, including an expansion port which provides a physical layer interface to another integrated circuit repeater.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
41 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 9, wherein the data is transmitted on the media dependent interfaces at a first clock rate, and data is transmitted through the expansion port at a second clock rate faster than the first clock rate.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
22 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 1 0, wherein the second clock rate is twice the frequency of the first clock rate.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
71 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 1, including an expansion port which provides a physical layer interface to another integrated circuit repeater; the expansion port including: logic to propagate a signal indicating a collision within the integrated circuit repeater, and to indicate detection within the integrated circuit repeater of a receive error at one of the plurality of media dependent interfaces, through the expansion port to the other integrated circuit repeater.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
25 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 1, wherein the plurality of media dependent interfaces and the media independent interface are compliant with 100BASE-T industry standard.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
154 words
An integrated circuit repeater, comprising: a plurality of media dependent interfaces for connection to respective 100BASE-T compliant communication media; interface control logic, including interface control and status registers for the plurality of media dependent interfaces, which manages physical layer receive and transmit functions on the plurality of media dependent interfaces for variant types of communication media; repeater circuitry coupled to the plurality of media dependent interfaces which perform physical layer repeater functions for the plurality of media dependent interfaces; a media independent interface, emulating a connection to a transceiver, coupled with the repeater circuitry, for connection of the plurality of media dependent interfaces with a corresponding 100BASE-T compliant data link layer media access controller; and a management interface, coupled with the interface control logic, responsive to a repeater address received at the management interface, to provide read and write access to the interface control and status registers for the plurality of media dependent interfaces.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
154 words
An integrated circuit repeater, comprising: a plurality of media dependent interfaces for connection to respective 100BASE-T compliant communication media; interface control logic, including interface control and status registers for the plurality of media dependent interfaces, which manages physical layer receive and transmit functions on the plurality of media dependent interfaces for variant types of communication media; repeater circuitry coupled to the plurality of media dependent interfaces which perform physical layer repeater functions for the plurality of media dependent interfaces; a media independent interface, emulating a connection to a transceiver, coupled with the repeater circuitry, for connection of the plurality of media dependent interfaces with a corresponding 100BASE-T compliant data link layer media access controller; and a management interface, coupled with the interface control logic, responsive to a repeater address received at the management interface, to provide read and write access to the interface control and status registers for the plurality of media dependent interfaces.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
65 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 14, wherein the interface control and status registers include a media type register which indicates one of a plurality of types of communication media for each of the plurality of media dependent interfaces, and wherein the interface control logic includes circuits responsive to the media type register which adapt the plurality of media dependent interfaces to the indicated types.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
34 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 14, including at least one additional media independent interface coupled with the plurality of media dependent interfaces, which shares the interface control logic with said media independent interface.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
52 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 16, wherein said media independent interface includes a set of receive data output pins on the integrated circuit which supply received data to an external device, and the additional media independent interface shares the set of receive data out put pins with said media independent interface.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
46 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 14, wherein the interface control and status registers include: a first set of registers specifying shared attributes of the plurality of media dependent interfaces; and a second set of registers specifying individual attributes of the plurality of media dependent interfaces.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
31 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 18, wherein the management interface includes a serial port for reading and writing the interface control and status registers in response to the repeater address.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
25 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 19, including a plurality of status pins providing access to selected data in the interface control and status registers.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
22 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 14, including an expansion port which provides a physical layer interface to another integrated circuit repeater.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
41 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 21, wherein the data is transmitted on the media dependent interfaces at a first clock rate, and data is transmitted through the expansion port at a second clock rate faster than the first clock rate.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
21 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 22, wherein the second clock rate is twice the frequency of the first clock rate.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
71 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 14, including an expansion port which provides a physical layer interface to another integrated circuit repeater; the expansion port including: logic to propagate a signal indicating a collision within the integrated circuit repeater, and to indicate detection within the integrated circuit repeater of a receive error at one of the plurality of media independent interfaces through the expansion port to the other integrated circuit repeater.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
127 words
An integrated circuit repeater, comprising: a plurality of media dependent interfaces for connection to respective 100BASE-T compliant communication media; interface control logic, including a media type register which specifies one of a prespecified set of types of 100BASE-T compliant communication media for each of the plurality of media dependent interfaces, which manages physical layer receive and transmit functions on the plurality of media dependent interfaces for specified types of communication media; repeater circuitry coupled to the plurality of media dependent interfaces which perform physical layer repeater functions for the plurality of media dependent interfaces; and a management interface, coupled with the interface control logic, to provide access to the media type register for specifying the variant types of communication media for the plurality of media dependent interfaces.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
127 words
An integrated circuit repeater, comprising: a plurality of media dependent interfaces for connection to respective 100BASE-T compliant communication media; interface control logic, including a media type register which specifies one of a prespecified set of types of 100BASE-T compliant communication media for each of the plurality of media dependent interfaces, which manages physical layer receive and transmit functions on the plurality of media dependent interfaces for specified types of communication media; repeater circuitry coupled to the plurality of media dependent interfaces which perform physical layer repeater functions for the plurality of media dependent interfaces; and a management interface, coupled with the interface control logic, to provide access to the media type register for specifying the variant types of communication media for the plurality of media dependent interfaces.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
29 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 25, wherein the management interface is responsive to a repeater address received at the management interface, to access to the media type register.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
28 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 26, wherein the management interface includes a serial port for writing to the media type register in response to the repeater address.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
35 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 25, including: a media independent interface coupled with the repeater circuitry, for connection of the plurality of media dependent interfaces with a corresponding data link layer media access controller.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
32 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 25, wherein the interface control logic includes circuits responsive to the media type register which adapt the plurality of media dependent interfaces to the specified types.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
115 words
An integrated circuit repeater comprising: a plurality of media dependent interfaces for connection to respective communication media; repeater circuitry, coupled to the plurality of media dependent interfaces, which performs physical layer repeater functions for the plurality of media dependent interfaces, including the detection of receive errors, and detection of collisions; and an expansion port coupled with the repeater circuitry, which provides a physical layer interface to another integrated circuit repeater, including logic for communicating the detection of collisions and the detection of receive errors to the other integrated circuit repeater; and wherein the expansion port operates at a clock rate faster than the clock rate of the media dependent interfaces for receiving or transmitting data.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
115 words
An integrated circuit repeater comprising: a plurality of media dependent interfaces for connection to respective communication media; repeater circuitry, coupled to the plurality of media dependent interfaces, which performs physical layer repeater functions for the plurality of media dependent interfaces, including the detection of receive errors, and detection of collisions; and an expansion port coupled with the repeater circuitry, which provides a physical layer interface to another integrated circuit repeater, including logic for communicating the detection of collisions and the detection of receive errors to the other integrated circuit repeater; and wherein the expansion port operates at a clock rate faster than the clock rate of the media dependent interfaces for receiving or transmitting data.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
37 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 30, wherein the clock rate of the expansion port for transmitting and receiving data is twice the clock rate of the plurality of media dependent interfaces for receiving and transmitting data.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
36 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 30, further including: a media independent interface coupled with the repeater circuitry for connection of the plurality of media dependent interfaces with a corresponding data link layer medium access controller.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
21 words
The integrated circuit repeater of claim 30, wherein the plurality of media dependent interfaces are compliant with the 100BASE-T industry standard.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2001-05-18 | 2001-11-17 | 2002-05-19 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2005-05-18 | 2005-11-17 | 2006-05-19 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2009-05-18 | 2009-11-17 | 2010-05-19 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |