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:
Feb. 23, 1999
Filed:
Feb. 13, 1997
David C Brief, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Gregory L DeJager, Campbell, CA (US);
James R Hamstra, Shorewood, MN (US);
National Semiconductor Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A physical layer (PHY) device which can operate as a conventional PHY or as a repeater in a communication system. The PHY repeater supports four optional modes which may be enabled by programming control register bits with a microcontroller. These optional modes are: pass all symbols, enable noise filter, pass violation symbols and pass line states. When the pass all symbols, pass violation symbols and pass line states modes are enabled, the PHY device operates as a 'transparent' repeater. The repeater allows errors in a data stream to be encoded and repeated without filtering to a downstream station. The repeater also allows line states to be repeated without station management software. A single repeater may be used to couple two stations or multiple repeaters may be connected to form multi-port repeater boxes which can be connected to facilitate more reliable connections between stations.