Apparatus installing devices controlled by MDIO or SPI protocol and method to control the same

摘要

An apparatus including a plurality of internal devices that communicates concurrently with a controller by one of the MDIO protocol and the SPI protocol is disclosed. The controller of the invention couples with respective devices by the point-to-point arrangement. The controller couples with the external apparatus by the MDIO protocol and receives a packet containing an address of one of internal devices, the controller communicates with the device defined by the address by the protocol attributed to the device.

主权项

1. An apparatus communicating with an external apparatus by an MDIO protocol, comprising:
a plurality of devices each configured with one of the MDIO protocol and an SPI protocol; and a controller having a unit to communicate with the devices independently by a point-to-point arrangement, the controller communicating with the external apparatus by the MDIO protocol, wherein the controller transfers the MDIO packet provided from the external apparatus to respective devices by rewriting port and device addresses to port and device addresses specific to respective devices when the devices are controlled by the MDIO protocol, or by discarding port and device addresses when the devices are controlled by the SPI protocol.