Precisely capturing time of an event in processing circuitry of an optical module
AssigneeCiena Corporation
InventorAndrew McCarthy
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An optical module includes a receiver configured to receive an optical signal, and processing circuitry configured to obtain data associated with the optical signal, periodically generate a reference signal, at a first point in the processing circuitry, each reference signal has an associated time, detect a significant event requiring a timestamp at a second point in the processing circuitry, and utilize a corresponding reference signal and its associated bit offset to determine the timestamp for the significant event. The first point is after the optical signal is converted to the data as bits, but where there is no data awareness.
Claims20
An optical module comprising a receiver configured to receive an optical signal, and processing circuitry configured to:
- obtain data associated with the optical signal,
- periodically generate a reference signal, at a first point in the processing circuitry where bits are first available from the receiver and prior to electrical processing that provides protocol awareness, each generated reference signal has an associated reference time,
- detect a significant event requiring a timestamp at a second point in the processing circuitry, and
- identify a latest one of the periodically generated reference signals preceding the significant event, determine a bit offset representing a number of bits between the latest reference signal and the significant event, and utilize the reference time associated with the latest reference signal and the bit offset to determine the timestamp for the significant event.
A method comprising steps of:
- obtaining data associated with an optical signal;
- periodically generating a reference signal, at a first point in processing circuitry where bits are first available from the receiver and prior to electrical processing that provides protocol awareness, each generated reference signal has an associated reference time;
- detecting a significant event requiring a timestamp at a second point in the processing circuitry;
- and
- identifying a latest one of the periodically generated reference signals preceding the significant event, determine a bit offset representing a number of bits between the latest reference signal and the significant event, and utilize the reference time associated with the latest reference signal and the bit offset to determine the timestamp for the significant event.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.