Patent ID: 8204077

Claim:
A method for automatically adapting to statically varying packet sizes at a transmission convergence layer, the method comprising: determining if an output of calculation logic in boundary detection circuitry is equal to a next value in a data stream being received; providing output indicative of an identified packet boundary to a synchronization circuit and a packet size calculator when the output equals the next value; determining a size of a packet at the packet size calculator, the determining being based on two consecutive packet boundaries identified by the boundary detection circuitry; receiving output from the boundary detection circuitry and the packet size calculator at the synchronization circuit; and one of entering a synchronous state at the synchronization circuit, remaining in the synchronous state, or exiting the synchronous state based on the output received from the boundary detection circuitry and the packet size calculator at the synchronization circuit, wherein the entering the synchronous state is based on a counting of consecutive good packet boundaries, and the exiting the synchronous state is based on a counting of consecutive missed boundaries.