Patent ID: 9037769
Filing Date: 2015-05-19
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A SAS expander with multimode phys comprising: a switch core; a plurality of SAS expander phys coupled to said switch core each of which includes an RX link layer and a TX link layer, wherein at least two of said plurality of SAS expander phys are SAS expander multimode phys; and logic coupled to said SAS expander multimode phys to configure each of said SAS expander multimode phys in one of a normal operational mode (N-link) phy a static endpoint mode (SCE-link) phy and a static infrastructure mode (SCI-link) phy; wherein said static endpoint mode and said infrastructure mode are alternate operational modes which bypass the RX link layer and the TX link layer such that communication between the at least two SAS expander multimode phys comprise a portion of a virtual link; whereby said N-link phy is configured to communicate with one of an initiator that originates device-service and tasks management requests, a target that originates device-service and tasks management requests, and another N-link phy, said SCE-link phy is configured to communicate with one of said initiator and said target, and said SCI-link phy is configured to communicate with another SCI-link phy.