Multiplex communications – Duplex – Convertible to half duplex
Utility Patent
1997-04-08
2001-01-02
Martin-Wallace, Valencia (Department: 3713)
Multiplex communications
Duplex
Convertible to half duplex
C370S352000
Utility Patent
active
06169729
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to computer network communication devices, and more particularly to a 200 Mbps PHY/MAC combination for providing full duplex operation at 400 Mbps.
2. Description of Related Art
Today's networks are performance hungry. The explosion of network technology has resulted in more users, applications, and intensive use of networks. Even such traditional applications as word processing have grown in their demand for network bandwidth. Networks are being challenged to provide the highest possible throughput in the most cost effective manner regardless of whether users are loading an application, printing a file, or carrying on an interactive video conference.
The search for network performance has led to the development of a number of advanced technologies. Furthermore, the vast number of technologies being developed suggests that the problem of network performance is substantial. The latest technologies include Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Fast Ethernet (or 100 Megabit Ethernet), and Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI). Each of these technologies is receiving a good deal of attention from those who need more network performance. More sophisticated protocols are being established to meet this increased demand and are utilizing existing twisted pair wires in office buildings so that many users have access to shared resources at minimal expense.
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, communication networks and their operations can be described according to the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model which includes seven layers including an application, presentation, session, transport, network, link, and physical layer. The OSI model was developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and is described in “The Basics Book of OSI and Network Management” by Motorola Codex from Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1993 (First Printing September 1992), and which is incorporated by reference herein.
Each layer of the OSI model performs a specific data communications task, a service to and for the layer that precedes it (e.g., the network layer provides a service for the transport layer). The process can be likened to placing a letter in a series of envelopes before it is sent through the postal system. Each succeeding envelope adds another layer of processing or overhead information necessary to process the transaction. Together, all the envelopes help make sure the letter gets to the right address and that the message received is identical to the message sent. Once the entire package is received at its destination, the envelopes are opened one by one until the letter itself emerges exactly as written.
In a data communication transaction, however, each end user is unaware of the envelopes, which perform their functions transparently. For example, an automatic bank teller transaction can be tracked through the multi-layer OSI system. One multiple layer system (Open System A) provides an application layer that is an interface to a person attempting a transaction, while the other multiple layer system (Open System B) provides an application layer that interfaces with applications software in a bank's host computer. The corresponding layers in Open Systems A and B are called peer layers and communicate through peer protocols. These peer protocols provide communication support for a user's application, performing transaction related tasks such as debiting an account, dispensing currency, or crediting an account.
Actual data flow between the two open systems (Open System A and Open System B), however, is from top to bottom in one open system (Open System A, the source), across the communications line, and then from bottom to top in the other open system (Open System B, the destination). Each time that user application data passes downward from one layer to the next layer in the same system more processing information is added. When that information is removed and processed by the peer layer in the other system, it causes various tasks (error correction, flow control, etc.) to be performed.
The ISO has specifically defined all seven layers, which are summarized below in the order in which the data actually flows as they leave the source:
Layer
7
, the application layer, provides for a user application (such as getting money from an automatic bank teller machine) to interface with the OSI application layer. That OSI application layer has a corresponding peer layer in the other open system, the bank's host computer.
Layer
6
, the presentation layer, makes sure the user information (a request for $50 in cash to be debited from your checking account) is in a format (i.e., syntax or sequence of ones and zeros) the destination open system can understand.
Layer
5
, the session layer, provides synchronization control of data between the open systems (i.e., makes sure the bit configurations that pass through layer
5
at the source are the same as those that pass through layer
5
at the destination).
Layer
4
, the transport layer, ensures that an end-to-end connection has been established between the two open systems and is often reliable (i.e., layer
4
at the destination confirms the request for a connection, so to speak, that it has received from layer
4
at the source).
Layer
3
, the network layer, provides routing and relaying of data through the network (among other things, at layer
3
on the outbound side an address gets placed on the envelope which is then read by layer
3
at the destination).
Layer
2
, the data link layer, includes flow control of data as messages pass down through this layer in one open system and up through the peer layer in the other open system.
Layer
1
, the physical interface layer, includes the ways in which data communications equipment is connected mechanically and electrically, and the means by which the data moves across those physical connections from layer
1
at the source to layer
1
at the destination.
The primary standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Network technologies is governed by IEEE Std. 802, which is incorporated by reference herein. IEEE Std. 802 describes the relationship among the family of 802 standards and their relationship to the ISO OSI Basic Reference Model. Generally, IEEE Std. 802 prescribes the functional, electrical and mechanical protocols, and the physical and data link layers for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks (LAN/MAN). The specification augments network principles, conforming to the ISO seven-layer model for OSI, commonly referred to as “Ethernet”. In the hierarchy of the seven-layer model, the lowest layers, the so-called physical and data link layers, comprise functional modules that specify the physical transmission media and the way network nodes interface to it, the mechanics of transmitting information over the media in an error-free manner, and the format the information must take in order to be transmitted.
While there are several LAN technologies in use today, Ethernet is by far the most popular. The Ethernet standards include protocols for a 10 Mbps baseband transmissions typically referred to as 10Base-X. Computers equipped with a 10Base-X Ethernet interface attachments may link to other computers over an Ethernet LAN. These Ethernet LAN's provide fast and reliable data transmission networks. Nevertheless, the need for faster data transmission has led to the development of faster standards. One such standard includes the Fast Ethernet standards typically referred to as 100Base-X. The 100Base-X standards generally follow the 10Base-X standards except that the baseband data transmission rate increases from 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps. The 100Base-X standard, however, retains the original CSMA/CD medium access control mechanism.
The 100Base-X standards include the 100Base-T standard for interconnecting devices over an ordinary twisted pair telephone cable. The 100Base-T standard is popular for providing an inexpensive LAN in many modern offices.
The 100Base-
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