46 results about "Energy-Efficient Ethernet" patented technology

A physical layer (PHY) in a network device may provide self-adapting power reduction based on monitoring of activity associated with an interface between the PHY and remaining components of the network device. The power management operations of the PHY may then be configured and / or adjusted based on that monitoring. The PHY may comprise an Ethernet PHY, which may support energy efficient Ethernet (EEE) features. The monitored interface may comprise a Media Independent Interface (MII) based interface. In instances where the monitored activity comprises outbound traffic, outbound data received via the interface may be buffered when at least one subcomponent of the PHY that is operable to support transmission of the outbound traffic is unavailable due to the power management operations. The buffering may be configured to last to allow sufficient time to reactivate the at least one subcomponent.

The invention relates to an ethernet method and a method applied in the ethernet. A system and method for enabling fallback states for energy efficient Ethernet (EEE). EEE devices can be designed to support multiple power saving states that impact layers higher than the PHY layer. Typically, these higher levels of power savings would require a greater period of time to accommodate a return to an active state. In a dynamic negotiation process, the receiving device can advertise multiple fallback power saving states to the transmitting device. The transmitting device's allocation of buffering can then determine which of the power saving states would be supported.

The embodiment of the invention discloses a CDR (Clock Data Recovery) circuit and a terminal. The CDR circuit is used for carrying out clock synchronization in a terminal for achieving an EEE (Energy Efficient Ethernet) function; and the CDR circuit comprises a phase detector, a first phase signal selector, a loop filter, a numerically controlled oscillator, a second phase signal selector, a phase signal generator and a state machine. In the embodiment of the invention, after the terminal enters a refresh state from a quiesced state, the CDR circuit does not need to wait for the convergence of the loop filter and the numerically controlled oscillator to complete the clock synchronization with an opposite terminal, but a phase signal which meets preset clock synchronization conditions is generated by the phase signal generator and the second phase signal selector selects the phase signal which meets the preset clock synchronization conditions as a phase selected signal of CDR, so that the synchronization with the opposite terminal is rapidly implemented, the terminal can receive data sent by the opposite terminal when entering a normal working mode and the terminal can be ensured to achieve the EEE function.

The invention provides energy efficient Ethernet with asymmetric low power idle. A low power idle mode is typically leveraged when both direction of a link do not have data traffic to transmit. Such a requirement reduces the application of low power idle due to the frequent existence of data traffic in only one direction. An asymmetric low power idle mode enables reduction in power consumption and signal emissions even when one direction has data traffic to transmit.

Ethernet link partners within an Ethernet network, coupled via an Ethernet link comprising one or more channels may be configured to operate in simplex mode based on determined condition(s) during communications via the one or more channels. The determined condition(s) may comprise utilization or load, current / past conditions and / or link statistics that may comprise one or more of packet error rate (PER), bit error rate (BER), and / or signal to noise ratio (SNR). In addition, one or more of the channels may be transitioned to a lower power mode with a zero data rate. In some embodiments of the invention, one or more of a plurality of operational changes may occur during simplex mode operation. For example, power may lowered for one or more components that enable communication such as receivers, transmitters, near-end cross talk cancellers, far-end cross talk cancellers and / or echo cancellers.

Training, refreshing and / or updating Ethernet link partners for silent channels and / or silent directions of channels may be determined based on control parameters. This may be used to improve energy efficiency in Ethernet communication. Control parameters may comprise a default value and / or may be determined based on prior training, refreshing and / or updating. New values for the control parameters may be generated based on a magnitude of change between current and prior control parameter values or based on performance such as bit error rate. User input may be utilized to determine when to execute the training, refreshing and / or updating. The training, refreshing and / or updating may be done for one or more of a near-end crosstalk canceller, alien near-end crosstalk canceller, far-end crosstalk canceller, alien far-end crosstalk canceller and echo canceller. After the training, refreshing and / or updating, the silent channels may transition to active and / or may remain silent.

Energy efficient Ethernet with a low power active idle transmission mode. A low power active idle transmission mode is defined for the transmission of idle signals during inter-packet gaps. The low power active idle transmission mode can provide energy savings in those instances that preclude the use of a low power idle mode and / or subrating to produce greater energy savings.

Aspects of a method and system for implementing energy efficient Ethernet techniques in a MACSec enabled PHY are provided. In this regard, an Ethernet PHY comprising memory may be operable to perform packet processing functions comprising MACSec protocol processing and energy efficient Ethernet (EEE) processing. In this regard, the memory may be utilized for implementing the MACSec protocol processing and energy efficient Ethernet (EEE) processing. The Ethernet packet processing functions may comprise packet inspection, packet generation, and packet modification. The energy efficient Ethernet (EEE) processing may comprise generating and / or inspecting messages for controlling when to transition into and out-of an energy-saving mode. The Ethernet PHY may be operable to monitor signals and / or conditions within the Ethernet PHY and control transitions into and out-of an energy-saving mode based on the monitored signals and / or conditions. The energy saving mode may comprise a low power idle mode and / or a subset PHY mode.

An energy efficient Ethernet physical layer (PHY) device including an EEE control module configured to generate a control signal to transition the PHY device into a low power consumption mode based an operating condition, and a pause frame generator module responsive to the control signals to generate a pause frame. The pause frame generator module is configured to send the pause frame to a media access control (MAC) device to reduce an incoming flow of data packets from the MAC device to the PHY device for a pause time duration. In operation, the pause frame generator module generates the pause frame including a pause time indicating the length of time for the PHY device to be in the low power consumption mode. The value of the pause time for each pause frame is determined adaptively based on the amount of data traffic to be transmitted from the PHY device.

A method and apparatus for enabling low power idle (LPI) signaling for Ethernet transceivers operating in legacy modes are disclosed that allow a high speed transceiver to retain energy efficient Ethernet (EEE) functionality even when the transceiver is operating in a slower speed mode. In some embodiments, an Ethernet device may enter an LPI mode upon receiving a regular LPI signal when its media independent interface (MII) is operating at a first transmission rate, and may enter the LPI mode upon receiving a modified LPI signal when the MII is operating at a first speed operating at a second transmission rate that is slower than the first transmission rate.