Patent ID: 8581169

Claim:
An intelligent electronic device (IED) comprising: at least one sensor configured for sensing at least one electrical parameter of electrical power distributed from an electrical distribution system to a load; at least one analog-to-digital converter coupled to the at least one sensor and configured for converting an analog signal output from the at least one sensor to digital data; at least one processing unit coupled to the at least one analog-to-digital converter configured to receive the digital data, output a first plurality of data signals along a plurality of output data lines and receive a second plurality of data signals along a plurality of input data lines; and a communication module including a first serializer and a first deserializer, the first serializer having a plurality of input data lines coupled to the plurality of output data lines of the at least one processing unit and configured to convert the first plurality of data signals received from the at least one processor to a first serial data transmission stream to be transmitted to at least one external device, and the first deserializer having a plurality of output data lines coupled to the plurality of input data lines of the at least one processing unit and configured to receive a second serial data transmission stream from the at least one external device and convert the second serial data transmission stream into the second plurality of data signals, the second plurality of data signals being input to the plurality of input data lines of the at least one processing unit.