HIGHLY PROGRAMMABLE MAC ARCHITECTURE FOR HANDLING PROTOCOLS THAT REQUIRE PRECISION TIMING AND DEMAND VERY SHORT RESPONSE TIMES

摘要

This invention defines a highly programmable MAC architecture for handling protocols that require precision timing and demand very short response times. The Media Access Controller consists of micro-coded programmable co-processors and general purpose CPUs. CPUs perform processing intensive functions while co­processors perform PHY specific media access control functions. The uniqueness of the architecture is in the real-time programmability of the co-processors; they can be reprogrammed by the CPUs based on the calculations performed in the CPU domain. Any embodiment of this invention is suitable for ASIC, FPGA, discrete or combinations of these implementation schemes. The invention applies to any communications technology.