Patent · US Expired

Automatic network speed adapter

US5596575A · kind A · utility

43Cited by
4References
5Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 5, 1995
Grant dateJan 21, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 5, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L69/24
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A network adapter for interfacing between a communication network and a host computer operating as a network device, and a method of operation of these components. The adapter is initially conditioned to transmit at a lower of two possible speeds, such as 10 Mbps instead of 100 Mbps, and then senses at which speed the network is operating, before matching to this sensed speed, either the higher speed or the lower speed. If the sensed speed is the lower speed, the adapter transmits a burst of high-speed signals and senses again for high-speed operation. If the network has not switched to high-speed operation, the adapter is conditioned for low-speed operation. After the adapter is conditioned for low-speed or high-speed operation, the network speed is continually sensed and, if the network is not operating at the selected speed for some preselected period of time, the adapter is returned to its initial low-speed state to begin network speed sensing over again.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.