Seeq Technology, Incorporated

John P VanGilder

Namakkal S Sambamurthy

Woo-Ping Lai

A downward compatible full-duplex ethernet transceiver associated with either the hub or the remote node in an ethernet local area network (LAN) includes generator circuitry for generating a full-duplex-capability signal indicating its full-duplex capability for transmission over a link of the LAN and detector circuitry for detecting transmission of such a signal from the transceiver with which it is communicating across the link of the LAN. The detector circuitry responds to the full-duplex-capability signal by sending a full-duplex enable signal to an ethernet controller configured according to the present invention. An ethernet controller contains circuitry responsive to the full-duplex-enable signal to disable transmission deferral in response to a carrier-sense signal generated by the transceiver. The full-duplex-capability indicator portion may comprise an extra pulse following an Nth link-integrity pulse after a delay of from about 2 to about 7 microseconds.

Apparatus and method for full-duplex ethernet communications

A downward compatible full-duplex 10Base-T ethernet transceiver associated with both the hub or the remote node in an ethernet network includes generator circuitry for generating a full-duplex-capability signal indicating its full-duplex capability for transmission over the twisted pair link and detector circuitry for detecting transmission of such a signal from the transceiver with which it is communicating across the twisted pair link. The detector circuitry responds to the full-duplex-capability signal by sending a full-duplex enable signal to an ethernet controller configured according to the present invention. An ethernet controller contains circuitry responsive to the full-duplex-enable signal to disable transmission deferral in response to a carrier-sense signal generated by the transceiver. The full-duplex-capability indicator portion may comprise an extra pulse following an Nth link-integrity pulse after a delay of between about 2-7 .mu.sec.

A downward compatible full-duplex 10Base-T ethernet transceiver associated with either the hub or the remote node in an ethernet network includes generator circuitry for generating a full-duplex-capability signal indicating its full-duplex capability for transmission over the twisted pair link and detector circuitry for detecting transmission of such a signal from the transceiver with which it is communicating across the twisted pair link. The detector circuitry responds to the full-duplex-capability signal by sending a full-duplex enable signal to an ethernet controller configured according to the present invention. An ethernet controller contains circuitry responsive to the full-duplex-enable signal to disable transmission deferral in response to a carrier-sense signal generated by the transceiver. The full-duplex-capability indicator portion may comprise an extra pulse following an Nth link-integrity pulse after a delay of between about 2-7 .mu.sec.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

John P VanGilder