Patent ID: 8644334

Claim:
A method comprising: transmitting a data stream over a data link from a first device to a second device, the data stream including a plurality of frames, the data stream being transmitted in a first data transmission mode; determining a data transmission mode change from the first data transmission mode to a second data transmission mode for the transmission of the data stream from the first device to the second device; determining whether the data transmission mode change from the first data transmission mode to the second data transmission mode is expected to cause instability in the data stream, wherein instability in the data stream includes instability in frame timing during transition to the second data transmission mode; generating a plurality of mode packets, each of the plurality of mode packets including fields to define a plurality of mode elements, the fields of the mode packet being set to indicate the data transmission mode change and to indicate whether the data stream is expected to be unstable during a transition between data transmission modes; and transmitting the plurality of mode packets to the second device prior to implementing the data transmission mode change.