Patent ID: 11966271
Assignee: MARVELL ASIA PTE LTD
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  H  Y | IPC G  H

Claim 7:
8. A method for Ethernet communication, comprising:
exchanging Ethernet data frames with a neighbor device over one or more data lines of a Media-Independent Interface (MII), wherein successive data frames are separated in time by an Inter-Packet Gap (IPG) having at least a predefined minimal duration;
exchanging management information with the neighbor device over at least a management line of the MII; and
further exchanging with the neighbor device, over the one or more data lines of the MII and not over the management line of the MII, during the IPG between Ethernet frames exchanged on the data interface, a wake-up/sleep command that instructs switching between an active mode and a sleep mode.