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:
May. 16, 2006
Filed:
Oct. 17, 2001
Ajay C Gummalla, Atlanta, GA (US);
John O Limb, Atlanta, GA (US);
Ajay C Gummalla, Atlanta, GA (US);
John O Limb, Atlanta, GA (US);
Broadcom Corporation, Irvine, CA (US);
Abstract
A point-to-multipoint network interface is provided that is simpler and less costly to implement than conventional Ethernet switches. The interface includes a plurality of downstream transmitters for transmitting data packets to a plurality of end user devices, a plurality of downstream receivers for receiving data packets from the plurality of end user devices, an upstream transmitter and an upstream receiver. A multiplexer within the interface multiplexes data packets received from the end user devices into a stream of data packets for transmission to a higher level node regardless of the destination address of the data packets. Conversely, a demultiplexer within the interface demultiplexes a stream of data packets received from the higher level node into individual data packets for selective transmission to one of the plurality of end user devices. The interface can support asymmetrical transmission rates on the upstream and downstream channels between the interface and the end user devices.