Patent ID: 8370701

Claim:
A physical layer device for the transmission of data over a twisted pair copper cable, comprising: a media access control layer interface that supports a first data transmission rate of 40 Gbit/s; a first forward error correction coder that supports the generation of forward error correction code blocks for transmission at said first data transmission rate over said twisted pair copper cable; a second forward error correction coder that supports the generation of forward error correction code blocks for transmission at a second data transmission rate of 10 Gbit/s over said twisted pair copper cable; a medium interface that supports transmission over said twisted pair copper cable; and an autonegotiation sub layer that is configured to facilitate a selection of a negotiated transmission rate from a set of transmission rates that includes said first data transmission rate, said second data transmission rate, and a third data transmission rate between said first data transmission rate and said second data transmission rate for a short reach mode of communication having a cable length limit that does not approach 100 meters, wherein said selection of said third data transmission rate is based on an analysis of discovered communication characteristics that enables identification of a type of twisted pair copper cable and a length of said twisted pair copper cable that is less than said cable length limit.