System and method for providing compatibility between different transceivers in a multi-pair communication system

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed that provide for compatibility between different generations of transceivers, such as Gigabit Ethernet transceivers. According to the invention, a novel transceiver is provided that includes a physical layer entity (PHY) comprising a physical coding sublayer (PCS) and a physical medium attachment (PMA) sublayer. In one embodiment, the PHY is designed to switch the PCS encoding/decoding scheme to a legacy-based encoding/decoding scheme in a situation where it is determined that the remote transceiver in communication with the novel transceiver is transmitting data according to a legacy-based scheme.

1 . An apparatus for use in multi-channel communication comprising: 
 a physic layer entity (PHY) that is operative to generate a plurality of encoded symbols according to one of at least two transmission encoding schemes;    wherein the PHY is operative, upon assuming the role of a slave device, to monitor data transmitted by a remote master device, determine the encoding type of the master device, and select the corresponding encoding scheme.    
   
   
       2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein one of the transmission encoding schemes is based on a 1000BASE-T standard.  
   
   
       3 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein one of the transmission encoding schemes is based on a legacy encoding standard.  
   
   
       4 . (canceled)  
   
   
       5 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the PHY is operative, upon assuming the role of a master device, to transmit data to a remote slave device, determine whether a link is achieved with the remote slave device, and select a different encoding scheme if a link is not achieved.  
   
   
       6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the PHY is operative, upon assuming the role of a slave device, to monitor channel idle symbols, to compare those symbols with expected symbols, and to automatically switch encoding schemes if no match is found.  
   
   
       7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the PHY is operative to initially set a polarity clue to a first value, and to switch the polarity value to a second value if the comparison of received symbols with expected symbols fails.  
   
   
       8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the PHY is operative upon assuming the role of a master device, to transmit channel idle symbols, to determine whether a link is achieved with a remote device, and to automatically switch encoding schemes if no link is established.  
   
   
       9 - 16 . (canceled)  
   
   
       17 . A method of achieving a communication link between a pair of transceivers, where one transceiver is a master device and the other transceiver is a slave device, the method comprising: 
 receiving, at a slave device, data transmitted by a remote master device;    determining, at the slave device, an encoding scheme of the master device; and    employing said encoding scheme when transmitting data from the slave to the master.    
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 17  wherein the encoding scheme is based on a 1000BASE-T standard.  
   
   
       19 . An apparatus for use in multi-channel communication comprising: 
 a physical layer entity (PIM that is operative to generate a plurality of encoded symbols according to one of at least two transmission encoding schemes;    wherein the PHY is operative, upon assuming the role of a master device, to transmit data to a remote slave device, determine whether a link is achieved with the remote slave device, and select a different encoding scheme if a link is not achieved    
   
   
       20 . The apparatus of  claim 19  wherein one of the transmission encoding schemes is based on a 1000BASE-T standard.  
   
   
       21 . The apparatus of  claim 19  wherein one of the transmission encoding schemes is based on a legacy encoding standard.  
   
   
       22 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the PHY is operative, upon assuming the role of a slave device, to monitor channel idle symbols, to compare those symbols with expected symbols, and to automatically switch encoding schemes if no match is found.  
   
   
       23 . The apparatus of  claim 22 , wherein the PHY is operative to initially set a polarity clue to a first value, and to switch the polarity value to a second value if the comparison of received symbols with expected symbols fails.  
   
   
       24 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the PHY is operative upon assuming the role of a master device, to transmit channel idle symbols, to determine whether a link is achieved with a remote device, and to automatically switch encoding schemes if no link is established.  
   
   
       25 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the PRY is operative to generate a plurality of encoded symbols according to another of the at least two transmission encoding schemes.  
   
   
       26 . The apparatus of  claim 25 , wherein the one of the transmission encoding schemes is associated with a carrier frequency, and wherein the another of the transmission encoding schemes is associated with another carrier frequency.  
   
   
       27 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the PHY is operative upon assuming the role of slave device to determine another encoding type of the master device.  
   
   
       28 . We apparatus of  claim 27 , wherein the encoding type of the master device is associated with a first carrier frequency and wherein the another encoding type of the master device is associated with a second carrier frequency.  
   
   
       29 . The apparatus of  claim 28 , wherein the PHY is operative to decode encoded data symbols transmitted by the remote master device according to the encoding type and decode encoded data symbols transmitted by the remote master device according to the another encoding type.  
   
   
       30 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the legacy encoding standard is associated with a first carrier frequency and wherein another of the at least two transmission encoding schemes is associated with a second carrier frequency.  
   
   
       31 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the first carrier frequency is lower than the second carrier frequency.