Patent ID: 7499500

Claim:
A data communications system for communicating a data signal formed of successive data elements, said system comprising a transmission node, a reception node, and a link providing a data connection from said transmission node to said reception node, said transmission node comprising: a data clock transmitter configured to transmit a synchronization clocking signal to said reception node via said link, said synchronization clocking signal having synchronizing features occurring at a frequency lower than a data element rate; and an assembler configured to assemble elements of said data signal into data frames, each data frame having a plurality of successive data elements of said data signal, for transmission to said reception node via said link, said assembler being responsive to said synchronization clocking signal so as to set a synchronization flag associated with a data element having a first predetermined temporal relationship with a synchronizing feature of said synchronization clocking signal; and said reception node comprising: a detector configured to detect said synchronizing feature of said synchronization clocking signal received from said transmission node; a disassembler configured to diassemble received data frames to regenerate said data signal, said disassembler being operable to detect a data element associated with said set synchronization flag; and an output unit configured to output said data element associated with said set synchronization flag at a second predetermined temporal relationship with respect to said synchronizing feature of said received synchronization clocking signal, said output unit comprising a time delay arrangement, so that data elements from a data frame associated with said set synchronization flag are output a predetermined delay time after said reception node receives said synchronizing feature of said synchronization clocking signal, wherein said first and second predetermined temporal relationships are arranged so that a predetermined system latency exists between input of a data element to said transmission node and subsequent output of that data element by said reception node.