Patent ID: 7106753

Claim:
A data communication method comprising the steps of: a. receiving elements of a first data sequence (Tx,a) at a first rate controlled by a first clock signal (CLK 3 L) and processing the first data sequence to generate elements of a second data sequence (T 3 x,a) at a second rate controlled by a second clock signal (CLK 1 L), wherein the second rate is higher than the first rate and wherein the second data sequence is an encoded version of the first data sequence; b. converting the second data sequence into an analog signal (A 1 ) and transmitting the analog signal via a communication channel; c. receiving and processing the analog signal transmitted by the communication channel to generate elements of a third data sequence (R 3 x,a) at a third rate controlled by a third clock signal (CLK 1 R); d. processing the third data sequence (R 3 x,a) to generate elements of a fourth data sequence (Rx,a) at a fourth rate controlled by a fourth clock signal (CLK 3 R), wherein the fourth rate is lower than the third rate, and wherein the first and fourth data sequences are substantially similar and forwarding the fourth data sequence at the fourth rate; further comprising one of: e. deriving the first clock signal from the second clock signal, and f. deriving the fourth clock signal from the third clock signal; wherein step e comprises the substeps of: e1. generating a plurality of reference clock signals, each having edges occurring with a frequency matching the frequency of the second clock signal but with a unique phase; and e2. generating edges of the second clock signal in response to edges of the reference clock signals selected such that the resulting first clock signal has a time-average frequency substantially matching a frequency of the fourth clock signal; and wherein step f comprises the substeps of: f1. generating a plurality of reference clock signals, each having edges occurring with a frequency matching the frequency of the third clock signal but with a unique phase; and f2. generating edges of the third clock signal in response to edges of the reference clock signals selected such that the resulting fourth clock signal has a time-average frequency substantially matching that of the first clock signal.