US 11,687,320 B2Granted

Slip detection on multi-lane serial datalinks

AssigneeViavi Solutions Inc.

InventorReiner Schnizler

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Abstract

The disclosure relates to detecting phase slips that may occur in a multi-lane serial datalink. Phase slips may occur when a lane experiences lane skew, which may introduce a phase slip with respect to another lane. To detect phase slippage, the system may select a reference lane from among the lanes. The system may generate a pre-deskew delta value based on a difference between the FIFO filling level of the reference lane before a deskew and the FIFO filling level of a second lane before the deskew. The system may generate a post-deskew delta value based on a difference between the FIFO filling level of the reference lane after the deskew and the FIFO filling level of the second lane after the deskew. The system may use a difference between the post-deskew delta and the pre-deskew delta to detect phase slip on the second lane relative to the reference lane.

Claims17

Dependent claims

An apparatus to detect phase slips on a multi-lane serial datalink, the apparatus comprising:

a multi-lane serial interface to couple to the multi-lane serial datalink comprising a plurality of lanes;
a skew corrector to perform a deskew of each lane of the plurality of lanes;
and
a slip detector to:
before completion of the deskew of each lane of the plurality of lanes, access a plurality of pre-deskew First-In-First-Out (FIFO) filling levels (FFLs), each pre-deskew FFL from among the plurality of pre-deskew FFLs corresponding to a FFL indicative of a rate of received bits on a respective lane from among the plurality of lanes before a deskew;
after completion of the deskew of each lane of the plurality of lanes, access a plurality of post-deskew FFLs, each post-deskew FFL from among the plurality of post-deskew FFLs corresponding to a FFL indicative of a rate of received bits on a respective lane from among the plurality of lanes after the deskew;
and
after completion of the deskew of each lane of the plurality of lanes, detect whether or not there exists phase slippage of a lane in the multi-lane serial data link based on a comparison of the plurality of pre-deskew FFLs to the plurality of post-deskew FFLs, wherein to detect whether or not there exists phase slippage of the lane, the slip detector is further to:
identify a reference lane from among the plurality of lanes based on the plurality of pre-deskew FFLs and the plurality of post-deskew FFLs, and
for each lane of the plurality of lanes, detect whether or not there exists phase slippage of the lane with respect to the reference lane based on a FFL of the reference lane and a FFL of the lane.

7 more elements

A method of detecting phase slips on a multi-lane serial datalink, the method comprising:

performing a plurality of periodic deskews of each lane of a plurality of lanes of the multi-lane serial datalink;
and
for each periodic deskew of the plurality of periodic deskews:
for each lane of the plurality of lanes of the multi-lane serial datalink, accessing, by a slip detector, a First-In-First-Out filling level (FFL) of the lane, the FFL indicative of a rate of received bits on the lane;
identifying, by the slip detector, a reference lane from among the plurality of lanes based on the FFLs, wherein identifying the reference lane comprises:
for each lane:
(i) accessing a FFL of the lane before a deskew and a FFL of the lane after the deskew;
(ii) accessing a FFL of a second lane before the deskew and a FFL of the second lane after the deskew;
(iii) determining a first difference between the FFL of the lane before the deskew and the FFL of the second lane before the deskew;
(iv) determining a second difference between the FFL of the lane after the deskew and the FFL of the second lane after the deskew;
(v) comparing the first difference and the second difference;
and
(vi) determining that the second lane is a partner lane of the lane based on the comparison;
repeating (i)— (vi) for other lanes of the plurality of lanes;
and
selecting a lane having a highest number of partner lanes to serve as the reference lane;
for each lane of the plurality of lanes, detecting, by the slip detector, phase slippage of the lane with respect to the reference lane based on a FFL of the reference lane and a FFL of the lane;
and
generating, by the slip detector, a display of whether or not any phase slippage was detected for the periodic deskew.

16 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 17/161,294Filed 28 Jan 2021 · continuation
Priority: 18 Mar 2019
Published: US 2021/0149631 A120 May 2021
Granted: 27 Jun 2023
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

G06F 5/065
For changing the speed of data flow, i.e. speed regularising or timing, e.g. delay lines, FIFO buffers; over- or underrun control therefor:…
G06F 5/16
For changing the speed of data flow, i.e. speed regularising or timing, e.g. delay lines, FIFO buffers; over- or underrun control therefor:…
G06F 13/4291
On a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus: using a clocked protocol
H04L 25/14
Details ; arrangements for supplying electrical power along data transmission lines: channel dividing arrangements , i.e. in which a single bit…

Family

Application16/356,881Parent of this continuation · filed 18 Mar 2019
US 2021/0149631 A1Pre-grant publication · published 20 May 2021
US 10,956,124 B2Parent of this continuation
US 2020/0301664 A1Published application
US 11,687,320 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.