Patent ID: 7020393

Claim:
A method of synchronizing unframed data flow through parallel optical links between first and second communications components, each said first and second communications components including an optical laser for transmitting laser signals to the other through said optical links, and each said first and second communications components including optical sensors for receiving said transmitted laser signals, the method comprising the steps of: (a) initializing each of said first and second communications components to default values and latching serial-deserializer circuits operatively connected to said optical links; (b) enabling said optical lasers and optical sensors and exchanging idle packets between said first and second communications components to establish a datapath across said optical links; (c) exchanging test data packets across said datapath established in step (b) to verify connection of all of said optical links; and (d) upon verification of connection of said optical links in step (c), enabling data flow between said first and second communications components; whereby, said optical links are synchronized, said datapath is established, and said test data transmission is verified before said data flow is allowed between said first and second communications components.