Patent ID: 7401162

Claim:
A data terminal equipment (DTE) comprising: a port; one or more signal lines connected to said port to establish a communication path; a set of transceivers, each transceiver being associated with a respective circuit in said DTE to establish communication along said communication path in accordance with a selected protocol, said port being configured to connect to a corresponding part of a data circuit-terminating equipment (DCE) to effect communication between said DTE and said DCE via said selected protocol; a switch in each of said one or more signal lines, each of said switches having a set of connections with each of said transceivers; and an interface controller for providing a control signal to condition said switches to connect each of said one or more signal lines with a selected one of said transceivers said port being connected to selected ones of said circuits in said DTE through said selected one of said transceivers, said interface controller receiving from said DCE through said port, a protocol identifier independent of said one or more signal lines and indicative of said selected protocol to enable said interface controller to condition said switches according to said selected protocol as indicated by said protocol identifier; and a power controller for controlling power to said switch in each of said one or more signal lines, depending on whether said port is coupled to said DCE.