Patent ID: 7791512

Claim:
A physical layer (PHY) device comprising: a first encoder configured to receive a first data stream at a first data rate, encode the first data stream using a first type of encoding to generate first encoded data, and output the first encoded data; a second encoder configured to receive a second data stream at a second data rate that is different than the first data rate, encode the second data stream using a second type of encoding to generate second encoded data, wherein the second type of encoding is different than the first type of encoding, and output the second encoded data; and an output selector configured to output the first encoded data to a serializer of the PHY when the PHY transmits at the first data rate, and output the second encoded data to the serializer when the PHY transmits at the second data rate, wherein the first encoder outputs the first encoded data via N outputs of the first encoder, where N is an integer greater than 1, and wherein the second encoder outputs the second encoded data via an output of the second encoder.