Patent ID: 8892793

Claim:
A method of operating an integrated circuit (IC), comprising: receiving, at a receiver of a first transceiver channel of the IC, a data stream at a first operating rate; transmitting the data stream to a transmitter of the first transceiver channel of the IC; transmitting the data stream from the transmitter of the first transceiver channel of the IC through a plurality of subsequent serially connected transceiver channels of the IC; sampling the data stream at a second operating rate at each of the plurality of subsequent serially connected transceiver channels, wherein the data stream is sampled at a different phase at each of the plurality of subsequent serially connected transceiver channels; outputting, from each of the plurality of subsequent serially connected transceiver channels, a data stream at the second operating rate; adjusting the data stream from each of the plurality of subsequent serially connected transceiver channels; and selecting the data stream from one of the plurality of subsequent serially connected transceiver channels as an output stream of the IC.