Patent ID: 8824273

Claim:
A communication system comprising: at least two links to carry signals; a first communication unit comprising: at least two ports, each port configured to transmit and receive signals; and a logic unit configured to process the signals transmitted and received by each of the at least two ports in the first communication unit; and a second communication unit comprising: at least two ports, each port configured to transmit and receive signals and coupled to a respective one of the at least two ports in the first communication unit via a respective one of the at least two links; a programmable logic unit configured to process the signals transmitted and received by each of the at least two ports in the second communication unit; and a processor configured to detect a crossover connection between one of the at least two ports in the second communication unit and the respective one of the at least two ports in the first communication unit based on an analysis of a pair identifier field in a message received at the second communication unit, wherein the pair identifier field is separate from an address field of the received message and identifies a connection pair of the port in the first communication unit from which the message was received.