Credo Technology Group Limited

Yattung Lam

Yifei Dai

Baohua Chen

Rajan Pai

William J Brennan

Sai Ingale

Jianfa Chen

Accordingly, there are disclosed herein active cables and methods that enable direct connection between different generations of network interface ports or ports supporting different standards. One illustrative embodiment is an active 1:N breakout cable that includes a unary end connector connected by electrical conductors to each of multiple split end connectors. The unary end connector is adapted to fit into a network interface port of a primary host device to provide output PAM4 electrical signals that convey a multi-lane outbound data stream to the primary host device and to accept input PAM4 electrical signals that convey multi-lane inbound data stream from the primary host device. Each of the split end connectors is adapted to fit into a network interface port of a secondary host device to provide output NRZ electrical signals that convey a split portion of the inbound data stream to that secondary host device and to accept input NRZ electrical signals that convey a split portion of the outbound data stream from that secondary host device.

Active 1:N breakout cable

A cable, a manufacturing method, and a usage method, each facilitate product development, testing, and debugging. An illustrative embodiment of a cable manufacturing method includes: connecting a first connector plug to a first data recovery and re-modulation (DRR) device and to a first controller device; and coupling electrical signal conductors to the first DRR device to convey electrical transit signals to and from a second DRR device, the second DRR device being connected to a second connector plug. The first controller device is operable in response to a host command to initiate a debug dump by the first DRR device and to store the debug dump in a nonvolatile memory.

Debugging arrangement for active ethernet cable

A cable, a manufacturing method, and a usage method, each facilitate product development, testing, and debugging. An illustrative embodiment of a cable manufacturing method includes: connecting a first end connector plug to a first data recovery and re-modulation (DRR) device and to a first controller device; and providing a bypass switch that operates under control of the first controller device to merge the command bus with the configuration bus, thereby enabling direct access to the configuration bus by the first host interface port. The first end connector plug has: a set of dedicated pins for conveying mufti-lane data streams between the first DRR device and a first host interface port; and additional pins for a two-wire command bus conveying communications between the first host interface port and a first controller device, the first controller device operable to configure the first DRR device via a two-wire configuration bus.

Bypass switch for managing active ethernet cable

Accordingly, there are disclosed herein architectures and communication methods that enable mass-manufactured cables to perform robustly at per-lane PAM4 symbol rates up to 56 GBd and beyond. One illustrative cable embodiment includes conductor pairs connected between a first connector and a second connector. The first and second connectors are each adapted to fit into an Ethernet port of a corresponding host device to receive from that host device an electrical input signal conveying an inbound data stream to the cable, and to provide to that host device an electrical output signal conveying an outbound data stream from the cable. The first and second connectors each include a respective transceiver that performs clock and data recovery on the electrical input signal to extract and re-modulate the inbound data stream for transit via the conductor pairs as a respective electrical transit signal conveying a transit data stream.

Active ethernet cable

A cable, a manufacturing method, and a communications method, employing preset transmit-side equalization to provide enhanced performance and/or to reduce receive-side equalization requirements. One illustrative cable embodiment includes: a first data recovery and re-modulation (DRR) device that exchanges inbound and outbound multi-lane data streams with a first host interface port via a first end connector plug; a second DRR device that exchanges inbound and outbound multi-lane data streams with a second host interface port via a second end connector plug; and electrical conductors connecting the first and second DRR devices to convey electrical transit signals therebetween. The first DRR device converts between said electrical transit signals and said inbound and outbound multi-lane data streams for the first host interface port, and the second DRR device converts between said electrical transit signals and said inbound and outbound multi-lane data streams for the second host interface port. The first and second DRR devices provide pre-equalization of the electrical transit signals using transmit filter coefficient values stored in nonvolatile memories.

Growing community of inventors

Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Yattung Lam