Alignment markers for aligning dl flits to ethernet codewords

A system comprising:

• a plurality of processors comprising a first processor in communication with at least one second processor over an interconnect fabric;
• and
• at least one circuit comprising:
• a first circuit corresponding to a data link layer, and
• a second circuit corresponding to a physical layer, the second circuit comprising:
• a first sublayer circuit,
• a second sublayer circuit located between the first sublayer circuit and the interconnect fabric, and
• an interface communicatively coupling the first sublayer circuit to the second sublayer circuit for transmission of code blocks between the first and second sublayer circuits during data communications between the first processor and the at least one second processor, the code blocks configured to align a first datagrams of the first sublayer circuit to a second datagrams of the second sublayer circuit based on alignment markers of the second datagrams.

A method for data transmission between link partners over an interconnect link, the method comprising:

• receiving a data stream for transmission between a first circuit and a second circuit over an interface coupled to the first circuit and the second circuit, the first circuit comprising a first datagrams and the second circuit comprising a second datagrams;
• transmitting, based on the data, one or more code blocks from the first circuit or the second circuit to the other of the first circuit or the second circuit over the interface;
• and
• aligning, based on the one or more code blocks, each first datagram to a corresponding second datagram based on alignment markers of the corresponding second datagram, wherein the aligning comprising at least one of:
• overwriting, in a transmit direction, an alignment marker of the corresponding second datagram by the second circuit based on the one or more code blocks, or
• converting, in a receive direction, the corresponding second datagram including the alignment marker with the one or more code blocks by the second circuit, wherein the first circuit aligns each first datagram to the converted second datagram based on the one or more code blocks;
• wherein the first datagrams are data link flow control units and the second datagrams are codewords.