Patent ID: 7065101

Claim:
An apparatus for enabling transmission of parallel data, including a plurality of parallel synchronization packets, from a first parallel bus to a second parallel bus via a serial data channel, having a first logical terminal and a different second logical terminal, comprising: a. a first logic element, in data communication with the first parallel bus, that detects a parallel synchronization packet in parallel data received from the first parallel bus and that generates a synchronization character used in a serial data transmission protocol upon detection of the parallel synchronization packet, the first logic element also configured to output the parallel data so that the parallel synchronization packet is replaced by the synchronization character; b. a serializer, in data communication with the first logic element and the first logical terminal of the serial data channel, that converts data from the first logic element into a serial data stream that is transmitted to the first logical terminal of the serial data channel, the serial data stream including the synchronization character; c. a de-serializer, in data communication with the second logical terminal of the serial data channel, that converts the serial data stream into a plurality of parallel data packets; and d. a second logic element, in data communication with the de-serializer and the second parallel bus, that detects the synchronization character and that converts the synchronization character into a parallel synchronization packet and that transmits the plurality of data packets onto the second parallel bus.