Patent ID: 7447437

Claim:
An interface arrangement for opto-electronic data transfer, comprising: an electrical plug connection part for holding and making contact with a corresponding electrical plug connection part on a plug-in opto-electronic transceiver, the electrical plug connection part having a plurality of electrical contacts including: first electrical contacts for transferring data which are to be transmitted by a connected plug-in transceiver, second electrical contacts for transferring data which are received by a connected plug-in transceiver, at least one third electrical contact which a connected plug-in transceiver uses to provide information relating to the data transfer rate at which the connected plug-in transceiver is able to transmit optical signals, an electrical chip for providing functions on a physical layer of the data transfer, these functions including the production and detection of electrical signals which are present on the first and second contacts of the electrical plug connection part, and the electrical chip having an internally set data transfer rate, a plurality of data lines between the electrical chip and the first and second contacts, an electrical control apparatus, connected to the at least one third electrical contact, for producing at least one control signal for the electrical chip in order to set the data transfer rate at which, during operation, signals are transferred from the electrical chip to a connected plug-in transceiver, the control apparatus taking a plurality at specified data transfer rates and setting that data transfer rate on the electrical chip which is the maximum at which a connected plug-in transceiver is able to transfer, provided that this data transfer rate is lower than the data transfer rate which has been set internally on the electrical chip.