Multichannel optical transport network time domain reflectometry calibration
Granted: June 21, 2011
Patent Number:
7965941
A system and method are provided for controlling time delay in a multichannel optical transport network (OTN) transmission device using time domain reflectometry (TDR) measurements. The method accepts a pair of 2n-phase shift keying (2n-PSK) modulated signals via Ix and Qx electrical signal paths, where n>1. Likewise, a pair of 2p-PSK modulated signals are accepted via Iy and Qy electrical signal paths where p>1. Using TDR modules, signal reflections are measured from an output…
Multichannel optical transport network skew control
Granted: June 14, 2011
Patent Number:
7962043
A system and method are provided for controlling time delay in a multichannel optical transport network transmission device. The method accepts a pair of 2n-phase shift keying (2nPSK) modulated signals via Ix and Qx electrical signal paths, where n>1, and a pair of 2p-PSK modulated signals via Iy and Qy electrical signal paths where p>1. A voltage V1 on the Ix signal path is compared with a voltage V2 on the Qx signal path, and a VOx voltage in generated, which is minimized by…
Frequency pattern detector
Granted: June 7, 2011
Patent Number:
7956649
A window sampling system and method are provided for comparing a signal with an unknown frequency to a reference clock. A pattern modulator accepts a compClk signal and supplies a test window with a period equal to n compClk periods, where n is an integer greater than 1. A pattern detector accepts the test window and a reference clock, and contrasts the test window with the reference clock. In response to failing to fit n reference clock periods inside the test window, the pattern…
Multiservice system and method for packet and time division multiplexed transport
Granted: May 17, 2011
Patent Number:
7944949
A system and method are presented for providing packet and time division multiplex (TDM) services in a data communication interface. The method accepts packets at a first rate over a packet interface, and transfers time-sensitive data in the packets as packet data units (PDUs) having a smaller number of bits than a packet and a second rate, faster than the first rate. The method transforms the PDUs into frames in a first TDM protocol. Typically, the PDUs are transformed into units having…
Synchronous payload envelope mapping without pointer adjustments
Granted: May 10, 2011
Patent Number:
7940806
A system and method are provided for mapping information into Synchronous Payload Envelopes (SPEs). The method provides information bytes at a nominal system clock-based data rate, which is about equal to a system clock, but may be adjusted. An external clock has a rate approximately equal to the system clock rate. The method generates SPEs with identically-positioned information bytes, regardless of differences between the system and external clock rates. The SPEs are combined with…
False frequency lock detector
Granted: May 3, 2011
Patent Number:
7936853
A system and method are provided for detecting a false clock frequency lock in a clock and data recovery (CDR) device. The method accepts a digital raw data signal at a first rate and counts edge transitions in the raw data signal, creating a raw count. A clock signal is also accepted at a second rate. The clock signal is a timing reference recovered from the raw data signal. The raw data signal is sampled at a rate responsive to the clock signal, generating a sampled signal. Edge…
Non-destructive laser optical integrated circuit package marking
Granted: April 26, 2011
Patent Number:
7931849
A method is provided for laser optically marking integrated circuit (IC) packages in a non-destructive manner. The method provides an IC die encapsulated as a package in a compound of glass spheres and epoxy. An acute angle is defined between a laser optical path and an IC package planar surface. The IC package surface is scanned with a laser, and in response to ablating the IC package surface, a legible mark on the planar surface.
Laser optical path detection in integrated circuit packaging
Granted: April 26, 2011
Patent Number:
7932119
A method is provided for detecting laser optical paths in integrated circuit (IC) packages. The method provides an IC die encapsulated as a package in a compound of glass spheres and epoxy. Power is supplied to the IC. The IC is scanned with a laser. Typically, a laser wavelength is used that is minimally absorbed by the glass spheres in the epoxy compound of the IC package, and changes in current to the IC are detected. A detected current change is cross-referenced against a scanned IC…
Instruction set for programmable queuing
Granted: April 5, 2011
Patent Number:
7921241
A traffic manager includes an execution unit that is responsive to instructions related to queuing of data in memory. The instructions may be provided by a network processor that is programmed to generate such instructions, depending on the data. Examples of such instructions include (1) writing of data units (of fixed size or variable size) without linking to a queue, (2) re-sequencing of the data units relative to one another without moving the data units in memory, and (3) linking the…
Micro array lens using optical fiber
Granted: March 29, 2011
Patent Number:
7916397
An optical fiber micro array lens is provided along with an associated fabrication method. The micro array lens is fabricated from a mesh of optical fibers. The mesh includes a first plurality of cylindrical optical fibers. Each fiber from the first plurality has a flat bottom surface and a hemicylindrical top surface. The top and bottom surfaces are aligned in parallel with a central fiber axis. The mesh also includes a second plurality of cylindrical optical fibers. Each fiber from the…
Credit based flow control in an asymmetric channel environment
Granted: March 22, 2011
Patent Number:
7912078
A system and method are provided for controlling information flow from a channel service module (CSM) in an asymmetric channel environment. The method provides information for transmission to an OSI model PITY (physical) layer device with a channel buffer. The PHY device channel buffer current capacity is estimated. Information is sent to the channel buffer responsive to estimating the channel buffer capacity, prior to receiving a Polling Result message from the PHY device. Initially,…
System and method for repairing a speculative global history record
Granted: March 8, 2011
Patent Number:
7904705
A system and method are provided for updating a speculative global history prediction record in a microprocessor system using pipelined instruction processing. The method accepts microprocessor instructions with consecutive operations, including a conditional branch operation with an associated first branch address. A speculative global history record (SGHR) of conditional branch resolutions and predictions is accessed and hashed with the first branch address, creating a first hash…
Multi-threshold channel equalization
Granted: February 22, 2011
Patent Number:
7895481
A system and method are provided for non-causal channel equalization in a communications system. The method comprises: establishing three thresholds; receiving a binary serial data stream; comparing the first bit estimate in the data stream to a second bit value received prior to the first bit; comparing the first bit estimate to a third bit value received subsequent to the first bit; data stream inputs below the first threshold and above the third threshold are a “0” if both the…
Transport of multilane traffic over a multilane physical interface
Granted: January 11, 2011
Patent Number:
7869468
A system and method are provided for transporting a serial stream via a lower speed network using multiple parallel paths. At a transmitter, an optical or electromagnetic waveform is accepted representing a serial stream of digital information, and unbundled into n virtual information streams. Each virtual information stream is divided into a sequence of segments. Each segment is encapsulated, creating a sequence of packets by adding a start indicator to the beginning of each segment,…
Current mode logic multi-tap feed-forward equalizer
Granted: December 7, 2010
Patent Number:
7848404
A system and method are provided for feed-forward equalization (FFE) in a transmission system. The method accepts a serial stream of input digital data signals. For each input data signal, a temporal sequence of signals is generated. Each of the signals in the temporal sequence is selectively shaped. Shaping map include varying the degree of amplification, modifying the slew rate, or varying the time delay. The contributions of the selectively shaped signals in the temporal sequence are…
System and method for link rate negotiation
Granted: December 7, 2010
Patent Number:
7849209
A system and method are provided for negotiating a link data rate in a communication system using a plurality of data rates. In a system including a first device network-connected to a second device, auto-negotiation (AN) messages are mutually transmitted. The AN messages indicate rate information such as preferred data rate capabilities, if the device has a dual-rate capability, or a single data rate capabilities. If the AN messages are mutually transmitted, a negotiated link data rate…
Microprocessor system for simultaneously accessing multiple branch history table entries using a single port
Granted: December 7, 2010
Patent Number:
7849299
Provided is a means for accessing multiple entries from a branch history table (BHT) in a single clock cycle, in the context of pipelined instruction processing. In a first clock cycle, a plurality of conditional branch instructions is fetched. A value is accessed from a global history record (GHR) of conditional branch resolutions and predictions for a fetched conditional branch instruction. An associated instruction address is hashed with a left-shifted GHR value. The result is used to…
Global history branch prediction updating responsive to taken branches
Granted: November 30, 2010
Patent Number:
7844806
A system and method are provided for updating a global history prediction record in a microprocessor system using pipelined instruction processing. The method accepts a microprocessor instruction of consecutive operations, including a conditional branch operation with an associated branch address, at a first stage in a pipelined microprocessor execution process. A global history record (GHR) of conditional branch resolutions and predictions is accessed and hashed with the branch address,…
Differential inverse multiplexing virtual channels in 40G ethernet applications
Granted: November 23, 2010
Patent Number:
7839839
A system and method are provided for deinterleaving differential inverse multiplexed (DIM) virtual channels in a 40G Ethernet receiver. The method accepts a 10.3125 gigabits per second (Gbps) (10G) Ethernet virtual channel with 64B/86B blocks, including periodic Lane Alignment Marker (LAM) blocks. The 10G virtual channel is deinterleaved into two 5.15625 Gbps (5G) virtual channels by: 1) deinterleaving consecutive blocks from the 10G virtual channel into the 5G virtual channels in an…
System and method for converting multichannel time division multiplexed data into packets
Granted: November 16, 2010
Patent Number:
7835393
A system and method are provided for converting multichannel serial data streams into packets. The method accepts a plurality of serial data streams in a corresponding plurality of channels. In a time domain multiplexed (TDM) fashion, groups with an undetermined number of data bits are packed from each data stream, into an associated channel segment queue, where each segment includes a predetermined number of bits. In a TDM fashion, segments are loaded into an associated channel payload…
