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:
Mar. 20, 2007
Filed:
Nov. 15, 2000
John E. Gavlik, Oxnard, CA (US);
Matthew J. Webb, Woodland Hills, CA (US);
Ted Chang, Oak Park, CA (US);
John E. Gavlik, Oxnard, CA (US);
Matthew J. Webb, Woodland Hills, CA (US);
Ted Chang, Oak Park, CA (US);
National Semiconductor Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
There is disclosed an apparatus for controlling a physical layer interface of a network interface card. The apparatus comprises: 1) a read only memory (ROM) for storing an embedded control program; 2) a random access memory for storing a downloadable software control program; and 3) a microcontroller for controlling the physical layer interface, wherein the microcontroller in a first operating mode executes the embedded control program to thereby control the physical layer interface, and wherein the microcontroller in a second operating mode downloads the downloadable software control program from an external processing system and executes the software control program in place of the embedded control program to thereby control the physical layer interface.