Patent ID: 7673075

Claim:
A device communicatively coupled to a host in a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) format, the device comprising: a processor to control operations in the device; and a serial interface to control serial communication in accordance with the SATA format with the host, including: entering into a first state in response to a first primitive from the host; transmitting a second primitive to the host to indicate the first state; transmitting at least one fill character to the host, wherein the fill character continues to indicate the first state; after determining to transmit more fill characters, replacing at least one fill character with pass-through information prior to receiving a third primitive from the host, wherein the third primitive indicates a state chance; transmitting the pass-through information to the host; receiving the third primitive from the host; entering into a second state in response to the third primitive; and transmitting a fourth primitive to the host to indicate the second state.