Patent ID: 8750444

Claim:
A method for providing timing recovery of a received digital data stream in a receiver including a series of consecutive data samples, said method comprising: separating the digital data stream into a series of consecutive observation periods where each observation period includes a predetermined number of the consecutive data samples; identifying a series of consecutive timing recovery data samples in each observation period where a number of the timing recovery data samples is less than the predetermined number of the consecutive data samples in the observation period and where the timing recovery data samples are used for timing recovery and other data samples in the observation period are not used for timing recovery; and using the consecutive timing recovery data samples in each observation period to provide the timing recovery where the timing recovery of the data stream using the timing recovery data samples is performed during an entire time period that each of the observation periods in the digital data stream is being received by the receiver, wherein control logic is employed that receives the digital data stream at a particular clock rate and outputs only the timing recovery data samples at a slower clock rate than the particular clock rate, and wherein the control logic provides only the timing recovery data samples at the slower clock rate to a timing recovery circuit in the receiver.