Patent ID: 7839839

Claim:
A method for interleaving differential inverse multiplexed (DIM) virtual channels in a 40G Ethernet receiver, the method comprising: accepting a 10.3125 gigabits per second (Gbps) (10G) virtual channel with 64B/66B blocks, including periodic Lane Alignment Marker (LAM) blocks; differentially inverse multiplexing the 10G virtual channel into two 5.15625 Gbps (5G) virtual channels as follows: embedding a first LAM block into a first 5G virtual channel: beginning with the first 5G virtual channel, deinterleaving consecutive blocks from the 10G virtual channel into the 5G virtual channels in an alternating order; in response to each detected LAM block, reversing the order of differential inverse multiplexing; and, supplying the 5G virtual channels.