Patent ID: 7339995
Filing Date: 2008-03-04
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: a) receiving a stream of bits in a first integrated circuit (IC) device, the stream represents a sequence of symbols transmitted by a second IC device over a serial point to point link that couples the first and second devices, wherein each of the symbols is M, an integer greater than one, bits long; b) comparing a first M-bit section of the stream to a non-data symbol; c) comparing a second M-bit section of the stream to the non-data symbol, the second section being offset by one bit in the stream relative to the first section; d) if there is a match between the second section and the non-data symbol, then asserting a flag indicating symbol alignment and treating, in the first device, each of a plurality of consecutive, non-overlapping M-bit sections that immediately follow the second section to be a separate symbol; and e) determining whether or not the plurality of M-bit sections that follow the second section are a predefined training sequence that has an instance of the non-data symbol, and if not then deasserting the flag to indicate no symbol alignment and if yes then sustaining the flag.