Patent ID: 6134240
Filing Date: 2000-10-17
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A system for automatically allocating chip addresses to chips on a network repeater, comprising:a plurality of chips in a repeater;a serial data ring linking all the chips in the repeater in a chain;a network management bus linked to each chip in the chain; anda protocol for allocation of addresses to chips in the chain, said protocol comprising:initiating a chip address allocation ring at a first chip in the chain;saving an initial chip address in the first chip's register address:setting a bit in the address data to provide the address for a next chip in the chain;sending the chip address allocation ring with the set chip address data to the next chip;saving the chip address in said next chip's register address;setting a subsequent bit in the address data to provide the address for a subsequent chip; andsending the chip address allocation ring with the reset chip address data to the subsequent chip.