摘要 |
A network adapter capable of adapting its transmission speed to that of another adapter of the same or slower speed so as to mix adapters of different speeds in the same communication network. In send mode, the adapter selects one of a plurality of transmission speeds based on the message header including a field specifying the message speed, which speed is known to be supported by the adapter at the addressed receive node. The sending adapter prefixes the message with a synchronization byte which defines transmission speed selected and transmits the message at the selected speed. In receive mode, the adapter decodes within one clock cycle the message speed from the message synchronization byte, and responsive thereto generates the clock for gating the receive message into adapter memory.
|