Adaptive pause time energy efficient ethernet PHY
US8942144B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 12, 2011 |
| Grant date | Jan 27, 2015 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 27, 2033 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY02D30/50
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
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.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.