Network transceiver for steering network data to selected paths based on determined link speeds

Abstract

A novel method of operating repeaters or other hub devices in a local area network, such as one conforming to Ethernet protocol, in which there are a plurality of repeater interfaces of respectively different data rates for communicating with a link partner on a network medium. The methodology comprises determining the data rate of operation of the link partner, and based on that data rate, automatically steering data between the network medium and a selected one of the repeaters. In a preferred embodiment, a network transceiver comprises one or more physical layer devices (PHY), and a plurality of shared data busses corresponding, respectively, to the speeds of operation of the repeaters, for interconnecting the repeaters and one or more of the physical layer devices. A multiplexer interconnects each of the one or more physical layer devices to a selected one of the plurality of busses, and an auto-negotiation unit controls the multiplexer to interconnect the physical layer devices to corresponding busses selected depending on the operating speed of the link partner.