Patent ID: 6701406
Filing Date: 2004-03-02
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A networking interface device for coupling a system host having one of a plurality configurations to a network medium, comprising:a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) interface for coupling the interface device to a system host configured with a PCI based system bus interface; a medium independent interface (MII) for coupling the interface device to a system host configured with a media access controller (MAC) based system bus interface; a buffer management device (BMU) having an active state for bursting data packet traffic via the PCI interface when the interface device is coupled to a PCI based system bus interface and a passive state for continuously passing data packet traffic via the MII when the interface device is coupled to a MAC based system bus interface; and at least one physical layer device (PHY) connected to the BMU via a receive processing block and a transmit processing block, the PHY for carrying out networked communications with a remote system host in accordance with a home phoneline network alliance (HPNA) specification via the network medium.