Method and system for utilizing a 10/100/1G/10G Base-T PHY device for single channel and shared channel networks

摘要

Aspects of a method and system for utilizing a 10/100/1G/10GBase-T PHY device for single channel and shared channel networks are provided. In this regard, at least one switching element may be utilized to configure an Ethernet over twisted pair PHY device for communication over a single and/or shared channel. The switching element may enable switching between a transmitter being coupled to a shared channel and a receiver being coupled to a shared channel. Additionally, the switching elements may be based on whether the transmitter is connected to a standard 10/100/1G/10GBase-T network, or to a single and/or shared channel network, for example. In this manner, the configured PHY device may remain compatible with existing Ethernet networks. The PHY device may be configured externally and/or internally. The polarity of transmitted and/or received data may be configured based on a polarity of data received from a shared channel.

主权项

1. A method for enabling communication comprising:
in an Ethernet over twisted pair device configured to communicate over one of a coaxial cable and a twisted pair cable shared channel with two or more link partners:
configuring a plurality of switching elements within a physical layer transceiver (PHY) of said Ethernet over twisted pair device to decouple a transmitter output of said PHY from said shared channel until a polarity of said shared channel is determined;determining said polarity of said shared channel based on data received from said shared channel at a receiver input of said PHY;configuring said plurality of switching elements to adjust a polarity of said transmitter output based on said polarity of said shared channel;configuring said plurality of switching elements such that said PHY is operable to transmit data over said shared channel with said two or more link partners during a plurality of assigned time intervals in accordance with said adjusted polarity of said transmitter output, wherein: said configuring said plurality of switching elements is controlled via one or more control signals generated by a MAC controller of said Ethernet over twisted pair device.