System and method to monitor component wear on high speed serial interfaces

A method, comprising:

• receiving, by a plurality of signal lanes of a receiver, an associated bit stream;
• equalizing, by a plurality of equalization modules of each signal lane, the associated bit stream;
• providing, by each equalization module, a selectable compensation value to the bit stream received by an associated signal lane, wherein each selectable compensation value represents an equalization coefficient for the associated equalization module;
• performing, by a control module of the receiver, on each signal lane a plurality of back channel adaptations on the associated bit stream to achieve a target bit error rate for the associated signal lane, each back channel adaptation being associated with a set of compensation values of the equalization modules;
• determining, by the control module, for each signal lane a most common set of compensation values derived from the performance of the back channel adaptations;
• determining, by the control module, for each selectable compensation value of the most common set of compensation values, whether or not a particular compensation value is within a predetermined boundary for that selectable compensation value;
• and
• providing, by the control module, an indication when the particular compensation value of the most common set of compensation values is not within the predetermined boundary for the particular compensation value.

A serial communication channel system, comprising:

• a transmitter;
• and
• a receiver including
• a plurality of signal lanes each to receive a data bit stream from the transmitter, and each signal lane including a plurality of equalization modules each configurable to provide a selectable compensation value to the data bit stream received by the associated signal lane, wherein each selectable compensation value represents an equalization coefficient for the associated equalization module;
• and
• a control module configured to:
• perform on each signal lane a plurality of back channel adaptations on an associated data bit stream to achieve a target bit error rate for the associated signal lane, each back channel adaptation being associated with a set of compensation values of the equalization modules;
• determine for each signal lane a most common set of compensation values derived from the performance of the back channel adaptations;
• determine for each selectable compensation value of the most common set of compensation values, whether or not a particular compensation value is within a predetermined boundary for that selectable compensation value;
• and
• provide an indication when the particular compensation value of the most common set of compensation values is not within the predetermined boundary for the particular compensation value.