Patent ID: 11863468
Assignee: MARVELL ASIA PTE LTD
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 6:
7. A method for communication in an in-vehicle Ethernet communication system that includes (i) a first Ethernet Physical layer (PHY) device comprising a first interface connected to a first system controller, and a first General-Purpose Input-Output (GPIO) port that is separate from the first interface, the first GPIO port connected to a first safety controller, and (ii) a second Ethernet PHY device comprising a second interface connected to a second system controller, and a second GPIO port that is separate from the second interface, the second GPIO port connected to a second safety controller, the method comprising:
transferring data between the first and second system controllers by (i) communicating with the first and second system controllers via the first and second interfaces and (ii) transmitting and receiving, over a physical Ethernet link between the first and second Ethernet PHY devices, layer-1 Ethernet frames that carry the data; and
transferring safety messages between the first and second safety controllers, over the same physical Ethernet link and independently of the first and second system controllers, by (i) communicating with the first and second safety controllers via the first and second GPIO ports, and (ii) transferring, over the physical Ethernet link, Ethernet Operations Administration and Maintenance (OAM) frames that are interleaved among the layer-1 Ethernet frames and that carry the safety messages.