Patent ID: 7907605

Claim:
A physical layer of a network device, the physical layer comprising: a first transceiver in communication with a first media of a first type; a second transceiver in communication with a second media of a second type, the second type being different from the first type; a first autonegotiation circuit configured to use the first transceiver to attempt to establish a link over the first media; a second autonegotiation circuit configured to simultaneously use the second transceiver to attempt to establish a link over the second media; a media selector circuit in communication with each of the first autonegotiation circuit and the second autonegotiation circuit, wherein in response to the first autonegotiation circuit establishing the link over the first media prior to the second autonegotiation circuit establishing the link over the second media, the media selector is configured to power down the second autonegotiation circuit, and in response to the second autonegotiation circuit establishing the link over the second media prior to the first autonegotiation circuit establishing the link over the first media, the media selector is configured to power down the first autonegotiation circuit.