Patent ID: 7477849

Claim:
An apparatus for use in a communication system, the apparatus comprising: a first node, the first node comprising a transmitter configured for communication with a receiver of a second node of the system and a receiver configured for communication with a transmitter of the second node; the first node being configured to generate a signal for transmission over a serial data channel to the second node, the signal having a multilevel amplitude modulated format in which, within a given clock cycle of the signal, multiple bits are represented by a given signal level; wherein the first node is configured to provide automatic activation of a particular one of a plurality of supported signaling formats, including the multilevel amplitude modulated format, based on detection of signaling capability of the second node, for use in communication with the second node over the serial data channel; and wherein in detecting the signaling capability of the second node, the first node determines if the second node incorporates encoding and decoding logic for the multilevel amplitude modulated format.