Patent ID: 7570591

Claim:
A method for negotiating link speed and configuration, the method comprising: transmitting during an idle period a modulated output Z comprising a modulation of a data D and a sequence of IDLE signals across a link for a predetermined time amount; prior to transmitting the modulated output Z, performing a modulation of the data D with contents of a synchronous scrambler at a first node in order to generate the modulated output Z, where the data D includes configuration information and where the data D is modulated by performing a first XOR logic operation with the data D and with a first XOR logic function of contents of the synchronous scrambler; demodulating the modulated output Z with the contents of a synchronous descrambler at a second node in order to recover the data D, where the modulated output Z is demodulated by performing a second XOR logic operation with the modulated output Z and with a second XOR logic function of contents of the synchronous descrambler; and based on the configuration information in the data D recovered from the demodulated output Z, setting, by the first node and the second node, negotiated configuration settings for operations on the link.