The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 19, 1996
Filed:
Aug. 06, 1993
John Marum, Oakland, CA (US);
Harold H Webber, Berkeley, CA (US);
Farallon Computing, Inc., Alameda, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides automatic configuration of the transmit and receive paths of a network connection, preferably a 10Base-T network connection. It senses which pair in a cable is used for TX signals and which is used for RX signals, then it automatically swaps or unswaps the RX and TX pairs of the port so that a connection is made regardless of whether a crossover or straight-through cable is used. The invention uses link integrity pulses, which are used to periodically test the integrity of the network, to determine which pair is for reception and which is for transmission. Since the auto-crossover transceiver has line receivers and line drivers connected to both pairs of the cable, once it determines which pair is TX and which is RX, it selects the appropriate line receiver and driver to match the cable configuration. The present invention allows connection to a network where another node on the network is either of the standard 'hub' type, of the standard 'MAU' type, or of the auto-crossover type.