Abstract:
A method applied to a wired network including a first network device and a second network device is disclosed. The first and second network devices each include a first set of connection ends and a second set of connection ends. Firstly, the first network device transmits a specific signal pattern through its first set and second set of connection ends. Then, the first network device detects whether a signal is received at its first set and second set of connection ends. If it is determined that a signal is not received at the first set connection ends while a signal is received at the second set connection ends, the first network device determines that its second set of connection ends is not correctly coupled to the second set of connection ends of the second network device.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to wired networks, and more particularly, to a method for determining the connection status of a wired network. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     An Ethernet network can usually support a variety of communicating bit rate modes, such as: 10 Mbps mode, 100 Mbps mode, and 1 Gbps mode. 
     Furthermore, two Ethernet networks can communicate with each other through the coupling of twist pairs. Under the 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps modes, two Ethernet networks can work properly by simply coupling two twist pairs between the two Ethernet networks; however, under a 1 Gbps mode, four twist pairs have to be coupled between the two Ethernet networks in order to make the two Ethernet networks work properly. 
       FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating a prior art wired network. The wired network  100  is an example of the above-mentioned Ethernet network. The wired network  100  comprises a first network device  110  and a second network device  150 . Both the first network device  110  and the second network device  150  are capable to communicate under the 1 Gbps mode. Furthermore, both the first network device  110  and the second network device  150  can support communication below 1 Gbps, which is 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps. The first network device  110  comprises a first set of connection ends  120  (which comprise a first connection end  122  and a second connection end  124 ) and a second set of connection ends  130  (which comprise a third connection end  132  and a fourth connection end  134 ). Similarly, the second network device  150  comprises a first set of connection ends  160  (which comprise a first connection end  162  and a second connection end  164 ) and a second set of connection ends  170  (which comprise a third connection end  172  and a fourth connection end  174 ). Under the 1 Gbps mode, the four connection ends  122 ,  124 ,  132 ,  134  of the first network device  110  have to couple to the four connection ends  162 ,  164 ,  172 ,  174  of the second network device  150  through a pair of twist pairs, then the first network device  110  and the second network device  150  can communicate with each other properly. 
     More precisely, when the wired network  100  starts to establish a data transmission channel, the first network device  110  and the second network device  150  will first utilize the first set of connection ends  120  and  160  to mutually transmit the link pulse to confirm the communication ability of both devices. When both devices are confirmed to have communication ability under the 1 Gbps mode, and the first network device  110  is assumed to serve as the first network device and the second network  150  is assumed to serve as the second network device. The first network device  110  then utilizes the first and second set of connection ends  120 ,  130  to transmit an idle pattern to the first and second set of connection ends  160 ,  170  of the second network device  150 . If the second network device  150  successfully receives the idle pattern from the first and second set of connection ends  160 ,  170 , then the second network device  150  also can utilize the first and second connection ends  160 ,  170  to transmit the idle pattern to the first and second set of connection ends  120 ,  130  of the first network device  110 . Then, the first and second network devices  110 ,  150  can establish communication under the 1 Gbps mode. 
     However, for the wired network  100 , the physical communicating path between the first network device  110  and the second network device  150  may not conform to the requirement of the 1 Gbps mode. For example, one possible situation is when the first set of connection ends  160  of the second network device  150  is correctly coupled to the first set of connection ends  120  of the first network device  110 , but the second set of connection ends  130  of the first network device  110  is not correctly coupled to the second set of connection ends  170  of the second network device  150 . Therefore, in the above-mentioned situation, although the first and second network devices  110 ,  150  can utilize the first set of connection ends  120  and  160  to confirm that both connection ends have communication ability with each other under 1 Gbps mode, the second set of connection ends  130  and  170  are not coupled correctly. Therefore, the first and second network devices  110 ,  150  still cannot establish the real 1 Gbps communication with each other. Furthermore, at the mean time, the first and second network devices  110 ,  150  will keep trying to establish the communicating mode of 1 Gbps mode, but will not succeed due to the incorrect connection. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, one of the objectives of the present invention is to provide a method for determining the connection status of a wired network to resolve the above-mentioned problem. 
     One of the objectives of the present invention is to provide a method for determining the connection status of a wired network to determine the communicating mode of the wired network according to the status of the communicating path. 
     These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating a prior art wired network. 
         FIG. 2  is a flow chart of an operation of a first network device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a flow chart of an operation of a second network device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The method of the present invention can be utilized in the wired network  100  as shown in  FIG. 1 , and it is assumed in the following description that the first and second network devices  110 ,  150  are capable to communicate under 1 Gbps mode. 
       FIG. 2  is a flow chart of the operation of the first network device  110  according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, in the step of  210 , the first network device  110  utilizes the first set of connection ends  120  to mutually transmit the link pulse with the second network device  150  in order to confirm the communication ability between the network devices  110  and  150 . Meanwhile, as the first set of connection ends  120  and  160  are coupled with each other, the first network device  110  confirms that the second network device  150  has communication ability under 1 Gbps mode. In step  220 , the first network device  110  utilizes the first and the second set of connection ends  120 ,  130  to transmit the idle pattern. In step  230 , the first network device  110  checks whether the first and second set of connection ends  120 ,  130  have received the signal. As the first and second set of connection ends  120 ,  130  of the first network device  110  are correctly coupled to the first and second set of connection ends  160 ,  170  of the second network device  150 , the second network device  150  can correctly receive the idle pattern. Similarly, the second network device  150  also utilizes the first and second set of connection ends  160 ,  170  to transmit the idle pattern. Therefore, if the first network device  110  detects that both the first and second set of connection ends  120 ,  130  of the first network device  110  have received the signal, then the first network device  110  can proceed to step  250  to confirm that the path is correct. 
     If the second set of connection ends  130  of the first network device  110  are not coupled to the second set of connection ends  170  of the second network device  150  correctly, then the second network device  150  will not receive the idle pattern correctly, and therefore the second network device  150  will not return the idle pattern through the first and the second set of connection ends  160 ,  170 . However, as the second set of connection ends  130  is not coupled to the second set of connection ends  170  correctly, when the first network device  110  transmits the idle pattern, the signal transmitted by the second set of connection ends will be reflected. Therefore, even though the second network device  150  does not return the signal, the first network device  110  will detect that the second set of connection ends  130  of the first network device  110  has received the signal (reflected signal), and detects that the first set of connection ends  120  of the first network device  110  has not received the signal. Meanwhile, the first network device  110  proceeds to step  260 , and determines that the second set of connection ends of the first network device  110  are not coupled to the second set of connection ends of the second network device  150  correctly, and disables the communication ability under 1 Gbps mode of the first network device  110 . After step  260 , the first network device  110  can re-try establishing connectivity with the second network device  150  while the communication ability under 1 Gbps mode is disabled. If the first network device  110  and the second network device  150  have established the communicating mode of the 10 Mbps mode or the 100 Mbps mode, then the first network device  110  can cancel the disable order of the communicating mode of the 1 Gbps mode (i.e. un-disable the communication ability under 1 Gbps mode of the first network device  110 ). Therefore, once the second set of connection ends  130  are coupled to the second set of connection ends  170  correctly, the communicating mode of 1 Gbps can then be set. 
       FIG. 3  is a flow chart of the operation of the second network device  150  according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, in the step  310 , the second network device  150  utilizes the first set of connection ends  160  to mutually transmit a link pulse with the first network device  110  to share the communication ability between the network devices  150  and  110 . Meanwhile, as the first set of connection ends  160  and  120  are coupled with each other, the second network device  150  confirms that the first network device  110  has communication ability under 1 Gbps mode. In step  320 , the second network device  150  checks the first and the second set of connection ends  160 ,  170  to determine if the first and the second set of connection ends  160 ,  170  have received the signal. As the first and second set of connection ends  160 ,  170  of the second network device  150  are correctly coupled to the first and second set of connection ends  120 ,  130  of the first network device  110 , the second network device  150  can correctly receive the idle pattern transmitted by the first network device  110 . Therefore, if the second network device  150  detects that both the first and second set of connection ends  160 ,  170  of the second network device  150  have received the signal, then the second network device  150  can proceed to step  340  to confirm that the path is correct. Then, the second network device  150  returns the idle pattern to the first network device  110  and shares the communicating mode of 1 Gbps with the first network device  110 . 
     If the second set of connection ends  170  of the second network device  150  are not coupled to the second set of connection ends  130  of the first network device  110  correctly, then the second network device  150  can only receive the signal at the first set of connection ends  160  correctly, while the second set of connection ends  170  will not receive the signal correctly. Therefore, if the second network device  150  detects that the first set of connection ends  160  of the second network device  150  receive the signal, and the second set of connection ends  170  do not receive the signal, then the second network device  150  can proceed to step  350 . Then the second network device  150  determines that the second set of connection ends  170  of the second network device  150  are not coupled to the second set of connection ends  130  of the first network device  110  correctly, and disables the communication ability under 1 Gpbs mode. After the step  350 , the second network device  150  can re-try establishing connectivity with the first network device  110  while the communication ability under 1 Gbps mode is disabled. If the second network device  150  and the first network device  110  have established the communicating mode of the 10 Mbps mode or the 100 Mbps mode, then the second network device  150  can cancel the disable order of the communicating mode of the 1 Gbps mode (i.e. un-disable the communication ability of communicating under 1 Gbps mode of the second network device  150 ). Therefore, once the second set of connection ends  130  are coupled to the second set of connection ends  170  correctly, the communicating mode of the 1 Gbps mode can then be set. 
     Please note that those skilled in this art will readily know that, although the above-mentioned first and second network devices  110 ,  150  are the first network device and the second network device respectively, the first and second network devices  110 ,  150  can also be the second network device and the first network device respectively. In other words, when the first and second network devices  110 ,  150  are the second network device and the first network device respectively, the first network device  110  decides the state of network connectivity according to the method as shown in  FIG. 3 ; and the second network device  150  decides the state of network connectivity according to the method as shown in  FIG. 2 . Furthermore, determining whether the first and second network devices  110 ,  150  are the first and second network devices respectively, or the second and first network devices respectively is prior art, and the detailed description is therefore omitted here for brevity. 
     According to the above-mentioned disclosure, when the connection between the first and second network devices  110 ,  150  conforms to the requirements of 1 Gbps mode (i.e. both devices coupled with each other through four twist pairs correctly), the first and second network networks  110 ,  150  can share the network communicating of 1 Gbps mode. When the connection between the first and second network devices  110 ,  150  does not conform to the requirements of 1 Gbps mode (i.e. both devices are coupled with each other through four twist pairs incorrectly), the first and second network networks  110 ,  150  will disable the communication ability under 1 Gbps mode, and try to establish the connection mode of 10 Mbps mode or 100 Mbps mode with each other. 
     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.