Method and apparatus for aligning multiple data streams and matching transmission rates of multiple data channels

An apparatus comprising;

• a data alignment device including
• a plurality of input channels to receive a stream of input characters;
• a control code detector coupled to the plurality of input channels to detect the occurrence of an aligning character in each input channel;
• a plurality of buffers, each buffer coupled to one input channel to store the input characters received over that input channel;
• a plurality of output channels, each output channel coupled to one buffer and to a corresponding input channel to transmit a stream of characters from the corresponding buffer;
• and
• a control unit coupled to the control code detector and buffers, and configured to monitor the occurrence of an aligning character in each input channel, to hold the aligning character and subsequently received input characters for each input channel in the corresponding buffer until an aligning character has been detected on every input channel, then resume transmissions over all of the output channels starting with each aligning character on the corresponding buffers and then the subsequently received input characters in the order in which they were received, wherein the control unit stops holding the aligning character and subsequently received input characters for each input channel in the corresponding buffer if an aligning character has not been detected on every input channel within a given number of characters from the first detected aligning character.

An apparatus comprising:

• a data alignment device including
• a first plurality of input channels to receive a stream of input characters,
• a control code detector coupled to the plurality of input channels to detect the occurrence of an aligning character in each input channel,
• a plurality of buffers, each buffer coupled to one input channel to store the input characters received over that input channel,
• a first plurality of output channels, each output channel coupled to one buffer and to a corresponding input channel to transmit a stream of characters from the corresponding buffer, and
• a first control unit coupled to the control code detector and buffers, and configured to monitor the occurrence of an aligning character in each input channel, to hold the aligning character and subsequently received input characters for each input channel in the corresponding buffer until an aligning character has been detected on every input channel, then resume transmissions over all of the output channels starting with each aligning character on the corresponding buffers and then the subsequently received input characters in the order in which they were received;
• and
• a rate matching device including
• a second plurality of input channels coupled to the plurality of output channels of the data alignment device to receive the output stream of characters from the data alignment device,
• a buffer coupled to the plurality of input channels to store the characters received over the input channels of the rate matching device,
• a second plurality of output channels coupled to the buffer and each output channel corresponding to one input channel of the rate matching device to transmit a stream of characters from the buffer, and
• a second control unit coupled to the buffer and configured to control the transmission of characters from the buffer, insert a filler character if an underflow condition is detected, and remove a filler character if an overflow condition is detected.

A method comprising:

• aligning one or more transmission channels including,
• detecting the occurrence of an aligning character in a plurality of input channels;
• stalling the retransmission of the aligning character and the subsequently received characters for each transmission channel where an aligning character has been received until an aligning character has been detected on every input channel;
• buffering the aligning character and subsequently received characters for each input channel in a buffer until an aligning character has been detected on every input channel;
• and
• transmitting the stalled characters, starting with the aligning characters and continuing with the subsequently received characters once an aligning character has been received on every input channel.

A method comprising:

• matching the transmission rates of a first clock to the transmission rates of a second clock including,
• receiving one or more characters over a plurality of input channels synchronized by the first clock,
• buffering the one or more characters received;
• transmitting the one or more buffered characters over one or more output channels synchronized by the second clock,
• inserting a filler character in each output channel if an underflow condition is detected, and
• removing a filler character in each output channel if an overflow condition is detected;
• and
• aligning one or more transmission channels including,
• detecting the occurrence of an aligning character in the plurality of input channels;
• stalling the retransmission of the aligning character and the subsequently received characters for each transmission channel where an aligning character has been received until an aligning character has been detected on every input channel;
• and
• transmitting the stalled characters, starting with the aligning characters and continuing with the subsequently received characters once an aligning character has been received on every input channel.