US Patent 10044524 Ethernet controller with integrated TSN/AVB control point and time slave

An Ethernet adapter module for interfacing a network endpoint device to an Ethernet network is disclosed. The Ethernet adapter module includes an Ethernet medium access controller (MAC) and an Ethernet physical layer device (PHY). The Ethernet MAC includes a processor and Time Sensitive Networking and/or Audio Video Bridging (TSN/AVB) state machines that cooperate with the processor to (1) identify a TSN/AVB request from the network endpoint device, and (2) discover a network topology along which to transfer data between the network endpoint device and a second network endpoint device in accordance with a predetermined Quality of Service (QoS). The Ethernet PHY is coupled to the Ethernet MAC and includes timestamp logic to apply a timing reference to the data being transferred.