Power optimization mechanisms for framers by serializing frame alignment processes for multiple lanes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10455501-B2
Application number	US-201615389165-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2016
Priority date	Dec 22, 2016
Publication date	Oct 22, 2019
Grant date	Oct 22, 2019

Abstract

System and method of frame alignment at a receiver with power optimization mechanisms. A framer at the receiver is configured to process data streams from multiple physical lanes and/or multiple channels serially. The receiver may include multiple framers that process different sets of data streams in parallel. A framer may enter a power reduction mode after all the channels associated therewith have achieved frame alignment. The framer can be restarted to perform frame alignment processes on a particular channel responsive to an indication that the channel transitions to an out-of-frame state. The “out-of-frame” indication may be generated by a forward error correction (FEC) decoder when it detects an excessive number of uncorrectable errors in the channel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A receiver comprising:
an input interface configured to receive a first number of data streams, wherein a respective data stream is transmitted from a respective physical lane and comprises a plurality of frames, a respective frame in said plurality of frames comprising frame alignment information; and
a framer coupled to said input interface and configured to process said first number of data streams successively to perform frame alignment, wherein said frame is configure to process a data stream in said first number of streams one at a time, wherein performing frame alignment on said respective data stream comprises:
determining whether frame alignment is achieved for a data stream that is last processed by said framer; and
identifying a location of said frame alignment information in said respective data stream.

2. The receiver of claim 1 , wherein said frame alignment information is same in said plurality of frames and specific to said respective physical lane, and wherein said frame alignment information comprises a frame alignment word.

3. The receiver of claim 1 , wherein said first number of data streams is associated with a first communication channel, and further comprising reconstruction logic coupled to said framer and configured to generate a reconstructed data stream for said communication channel based on said first number of data streams.

4. The receiver of claim 3 further comprising a forward error correction (FEC) decoder coupled to said reconstruction logic and configured to perform forward error correction on said reconstructed data stream.

5. The receiver of claim 3 , wherein, said input interface is further coupled to a second number of data streams associated with a second communication channel, wherein said framer is further configured to perform frame alignment on said second number of data streams successively.

6. The receiver of claim 5 , wherein said framer is configured to perform frame alignment for said sec Aber of data streams after performing frame alignment for said first number of data streams.

7. The receiver of claim 1 , wherein the framer is configured to identify said location by comparing frame alignment information with a set of consecutive bits in said respective data stream.

8. The receiver of claim 1 , wherein aid input interface is further configured to receive a second number of data streams associated with a same communication channel with said first number of data streams, and further comprising a second framer configured to perform frame alignment on said second number of data streams.

9. A receiver in a telecommunication system, the receiver comprises:
an input interface configured to receive data streams associated with a plurality of channels, wherein each data stream comprises a plurality of frames, and wherein each frame of said plurality of frames comprises same frame alignment information; and
a framer coupled to said input interface and configured to process said plurality of channels sequentially to perform frame alignment with respect to said plurality of channels, wherein said frame is configured to process a single channel one at a time, and wherein performing frame alignment on said data stream comprises:
determining whether frame alignment is achieved for a channel that is last processed by said framer; and
detecting a location of said same frame alignment information in said data stream.

10. The receiver of claim 8 , wherein a respective channel of said plurality of channels is associated with a plurality of physical lanes coupled to said input interface, and wherein said framer is further configured to perform frame alignment with respect to said plurality of physical lanes serially.

11. The receiver of claim 8 , wherein said feather comprises comparators configured to compare a set of consecutive bits in said data stream with said same frame alignment information.

12. The receiver of claim 11 , wherein said framer further comprises shifting logic, validation logic, a power management module and locking logic.

13. Time receiver of claim 8 farther comprising a forward error correction (FEC) decoder coupled to said framer and configured to perform an FEC process on a reconstructed data stream that is generated based on data streams associated with a respective channel of said plurality of channels.

14. The receiver of claim 13 , wherein said framer is further configured to:
disable frame alignment process with respect to said respective channel responsive to a frame alignment success event of said respective channel; and
restart frame alignment process with respect to said respective channel responsive to an indication that data streams in said respective channel have errors greater than a prescribed.

15. The receiver of claim 14 , wherein said FEC decoder is configured to generate said indication based on a determination that said reconstructed data stream comprises a prescribed number of consecutive uncorrectable codewords.

16. A method of performing frame alignment at a receiver, the method comprising:
receiving a first plurality of data streams at an input of said receiver, wherein a respective data stream is transmitted through a respective physical lane d comprises a plurality of frames, and wherein each frame comprises a fray - alignment word; and
successively processing said first plurality of data streams when perform frame alignment on said first plurality of data streams by using a framer, wherein said successively processing comprises: said framer processes one data stream at a time; and determining whether frame alignment is achieved for a data stream that is last processed by said framer, and wherein said first plurality of data streams are associated with a same channel, and wherein performing frame alignment on said respective data stream comprises detecting a location f said frame alignment word in said respective data stream.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein said same channel is further associated with a second plurality of data streams received at said receiver, and further comprising performing frame alignment on said second set of data streams in parallel with performing frame alignment on said second plurality of data streams.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising:
receiving a second plurality of data streams at an input of said receiver, wherein said second plurality of data streams are associated with another channel; and
successively performing frame alignment on said second plurality of data streams subsequent to said successively performing frame alignment on said first plurality of data streams.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:
selectively disabling frame alignment for data Streams of a selected channel responsive to a frame alignment success event with respect to said selected channel; and
enabling frame alignment for said data streams of a selected channel responsive to an indication that said data streams of said selected channel comprise an error that is greater than a prescribed limit.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising performing a forward error correction process on a reconstructed stream that is generated based on data streams of said selected channel, and wherein said indication resulted from said forward error correction process.

Assignees

• Applied Micro Circuits Corp
• Macom Connectivity Solutions Llc

Inventors

• Caggioni Francesco
• Giannakopoulos Dimitrios

Classifications

• H04L1/0053

  specially adapted for power saving · CPC title

• H04L1/004

  by using forward error control (H04L1/0618 takes precedence; coding, decoding or code conversion, for error detection or correction H03M13/00) · CPC title

• H04W52/0212 Primary

  managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is leader and terminal is follower · CPC title

• H04W56/001

  Synchronization between nodes · CPC title

• H04L1/0045

  Arrangements at the receiver end · CPC title