Method of synchronising data

A communication system for synchronizing data, comprising:

• (a) transmitting means for generating a composite signal comprising a serial stream of data partitioned in at least one frame;
• (b) receiving means for receiving the composite signal through communicating means;
• (c) means for generating multiphase clock signals at the receiving means from a master system clock data signal supplied by the system to both the transmitting means and the receiving means;
• (d) means for comparing the composite signal received at the receiving means with each of the multiphase clock signals until at least one of sustained coincidence therebetween is achieved and sustained non-coincidence is achieved, thereby synchronizing the receiving means to bit boundaries in the composite signal and to at least one of the clock signals;
• (e) means for correlating at least one bit template at the receiving means with at least one corresponding bit template in the composite signal received at the receiving means to determine where said at least one frame starts in the composite signal, thereby synchronizing the receiving means to said at least one frame in the composite signal;
• and
• (f) means for generating a corresponding guard signal by exclusively-ORing the composite signal with a delayed version of itself, and for comparing the corresponding guard signal with each of the clock signals in a cyclical manner until at least one of the sustained coincidence and the sustained non-coincidence of said at least one of the multiphase clock signals with the guard signal is achieved, the sustained coincidence or the non-coincidence being indicative of bit boundary synchronization.