Patent ID: 8345673

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a media access controller comprising a media access core; and a physical-layer device comprising a physical-layer core with a physical-layer input circuit, wherein the physical-layer input circuit is configured to receive, from a network, first signals representing first data, a first serializer configured to transmit a serial stream of the first data from the physical-layer input circuit to the media access controller, and a magic packet circuit configured to generate a magic packet signal to transition, from being powered OFF to being powered ON, (i) the media access controller, and (ii) at least one interface between the physical-layer core of the PHY physical-layer device and the media access core, wherein the magic packet circuit is configured to (i) determine whether the first data includes a magic packet by comparing a pattern of the first data with a predetermined pattern of the magic packet, (ii) generate the magic packet signal when the first data has the predetermined pattern, and (iii) ignore packets received by the physical-layer input circuit that do not include the magic packet to prevent generating the magic packet signal, wherein the predetermined pattern includes a destination media access controller address, wherein the magic packet circuit is configured to generate the magic packet signal when (i) an address of the first data is the destination media access controller address, and (ii) the destination media access controller address is an address of the media access controller, and wherein the media access controller is connected between the physical-layer device and a computer, and wherein packets of the first data are transmitted from the media access controller to the computer.