Media converter and link test technique using the same

摘要

A media converter allowing the response test to be activated from cable side and easy detection of occurrence of a failure is disclosed. A pair of physical-layer interfaces (101, 102) to different types of transmission media are connected through a memory (103) for temporarily storing data to be transferred between the physical-layer interfaces. The media converter determines whether a received block of data stored in the memory includes trigger data uniquely assigned to the media converter in a source address field of the received block of data. Only when the received block of data stored in the memory includes the trigger data, a response block of data (PRPL) corresponding to the received block of data (PTRG) is sent back to a source that has transmitted the received block of data.