Patent ID: 8024599

Claim:
A digital communication system comprising: (a) a host, said host including: (i) a clock operative to produce a clock signal having a clock rate; (ii) a receiver operative to sample bits of a bit stream according to a sampling timing determined according to said clock signal; (iii) a skew compensation mechanism operative to adjust said sampling timing; (iv) a voting mechanism operative to detect a skew between said clock signal and said bit stream according to a vote among at least three samples of a bit of said bit stream, and to adjust, via said skew compensation mechanism, said sampling timing so as to compensate for said skew, and (v) a training mechanism operative to detect a skew between said clock signal and a training bit stream, said training mechanism being further operative, via said skew compensation mechanism, to adjust said sampling timing so as to compensate for said skew, and (b) a device operative to transmit said bit stream and said training bit stream to said host, said bit stream and said training bit stream being synchronized according to said clock signal supplied by said host, said device lacking a clock, and wherein said skew compensation mechanism is operative to adjust, substantially in real time, said sampling timing so as to compensate for said skew of (iv) and said skew of (v).