Patent ID: 8908715
Filing Date: 2014-12-09
Classification: H01R,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method, comprising: in an Ethernet PHY comprising one or more switching elements and one or more circuits: controlling, via said one or more switching elements, which of a plurality of pins of a connector are communicatively coupled to a first portion of said one or more circuits, wherein said one or more switching elements reside in a signal path between said first portion of said one or more circuits and a second portion of said one or more circuits: coupling, by the one or more switching elements, a first subset of said plurality of pins to said first portion of said one or more circuits when said Ethernet PHY is configured to communicate in accordance with at least one of 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, 1GBASE-T, and 10GBASE-T standards; and coupling, by the one or more switching elements, a second subset of said plurality of pins to said first portion of said one or more circuits when said Ethernet PHY is configured to communicate in accordance with at least one of 40GBASE-T and 100GBASE-T standards, wherein each of said plurality of pins of said connector are configurable to be communicatively coupled to said first portion of any of said one or more circuits by said one or more switching elements, and one or more configurations of said one or more switching elements communicatively couples less than all of said plurality of pins to said first portion of said one or more circuits, pins not coupled by the one or more switching elements being inactive.