Patent ID: 8625413

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a transmission path; a receive path; a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that is coupled to the transmission path; an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that is coupled to the receive path; and a medium dependent interface (MDI) that is coupled to the DAC and the ADC, wherein the MDI is adapted to receive a first twisted-pair and a second twisted-pair so as to provide communication over a 100BaseT connection, wherein the first twisted-pair and the second twisted-pair are used in half-duplex in a non-fault mode; and wherein the MDI enters a fault tolerance mode when a fault in one of the first and second twisted-pairs has been detected, and wherein, in the fault tolerance mode, a physical full-duplex 100BaseT link is created over an active twisted-pair previously used in the half-duplex in the non-fault mode, and wherein the active twisted-pair is one of the first and second twisted-pair without the fault, wherein the MDI detects whether one of the first and second twisted-pairs has the fault by determining if a half-duplex 100BaseT link fails within a predetermined period, wherein the MDI configures the apparatus as either a master unit or a slave unit and synchronizes the apparatus with a second apparatus that is a slave unit, wherein the MDIs can set the master unit to detect an idle burst first, the apparatus further comprising a first echo canceller that is coupled to the first transmission path and the first receive path; and a first hybrid circuit that is coupled to the DAC and the ADC.