LAN9116 Datasheet, PDF (51/109 Pages) SMSC Corporation – Highly Efficient Single-Chip 10/100 Non-PCI Ethernet Controller

LAN9116
The auto-negotiation protocol is a purely physical layer activity and proceeds independently of the MAC controller.
The advertised capabilities of the PHY are stored in register 4 of the SMI registers. The default advertised by the PHY
is determined by user-defined on-chip signal options.
The following blocks are activated during an Auto-negotiation session:
• Auto-negotiation (digital)
• 100M ADC (analog)
• 100M PLL (analog)
• 100M equalizer/BLW/clock recovery (DSP)
• 10M SQUELCH (analog)
• 10M PLL (analog)
• 10M Transmitter (analog)
When enabled, auto-negotiation is started by the occurrence of one of the following events:
• Hardware reset
• Software reset
• Power-down reset
• Link status down
• Setting register 0, bit 9 high (auto-negotiation restart)
On detection of one of these events, the PHY begins auto-negotiation by transmitting bursts of Fast Link Pulses (FLP).
These are bursts of link pulses from the 10M transmitter. They are shaped as Normal Link Pulses and can pass uncor-
rupted down CAT-3 or CAT-5 cable. A Fast Link Pulse Burst consists of up to 33 pulses. The 17 odd-numbered pulses,
which are always present, frame the FLP burst. The 16 even-numbered pulses, which may be present or absent, contain
the data word being transmitted. Presence of a data pulse represents a “1”, while absence represents a “0”.
The data transmitted by an FLP burst is known as a “Link Code Word.” These are defined fully in IEEE 802.3 clause 28.
In summary, the PHY advertises 802.3 compliance in its selector field (the first 5 bits of the Link Code Word). It adver-
tises its technology ability according to the bits set in register 4 of the SMI registers.
There are 4 possible matches of the technology abilities. In the order of priority these are:
• 100M full-duplex (Highest priority)
• 100M half-duplex
• 10M full-duplex
• 10M half-duplex
If the full capabilities of the PHY are advertised (100M, full-duplex), and if the link partner is capable of 10M and 100M,
then auto-negotiation selects 100M as the highest performance mode. If the link partner is capable of half and full-duplex
modes, then auto-negotiation selects full-duplex as the highest performance operation.
Once a capability match has been determined, the link code words are repeated with the acknowledge bit set. Any dif-
ference in the main content of the link code words at this time will cause auto-negotiation to re-start. Auto-negotiation
will also re-start if not all of the required FLP bursts are received.
Writing register 4 bits [8:5] allows software control of the capabilities advertised by the PHY. Writing register 4 does not
automatically re-start auto-negotiation. Register 0, bit 9 must be set before the new abilities will be advertised. Auto-
negotiation can also be disabled via software by clearing register 0, bit 12.
The LAN9116 does not support “Next Page" capability.
4.7 Parallel Detection
If the LAN9116 is connected to a device lacking the ability to auto-negotiate (i.e. no FLPs are detected), it is able to
determine the speed of the link based on either 100M MLT-3 symbols or 10M Normal Link Pulses. In this case the link
is presumed to be half-duplex per the IEEE standard. This ability is known as “Parallel Detection. This feature ensures
inter operability with legacy link partners. If a link is formed via parallel detection, then bit 0 in register 6 is cleared to
indicate that the Link Partner is not capable of auto-negotiation. The Ethernet MAC has access to this information via
the management interface. If a fault occurs during parallel detection, bit 4 of register 6 is set.
Register 5 is used to store the Link Partner Ability information, which is coded in the received FLPs. If the Link Partner
is not auto-negotiation capable, then register 5 is updated after completion of parallel detection to reflect the speed capa-
bility of the Link Partner.
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DS00002268A-page 51