Patent ID: 7159055

Claim:
A physical layer apparatus for ATA interface, comprising; a serial ATA physical layer circuit, at least one serial ATA device being connected to said serial ATA physical layer circuit; a channel selection unit simultaneously connected to a media access controller of a host through a first IDE bus, said at least one serial ATA device through said serial ATA physical layer circuit, and at least one parallel ATA device through a second IDE bus, said channel selection unit selectively switching connection of said first IDE bus between said serial ATA physical layer circuit and said second IDE bus, wherein said serial ATA physical layer circuit is dedicated exclusively to said at least one serial ATA device, and wherein said second IDE bus is dedicated exclusively to said at least one parallel ATA device; and a channel selection controller connected to said channel selection unit to control said channel selection unit for selective switching between said serial ATA physical layer circuit and said second IDE bus for corresponding communication between the media access controller and either said at least one serial ATA device or said at least one parallel ATA device.