International Business Machines Corporation

Douglas W Wescott

Thomas Anthony Gregg

Robert S Capowski

Paul J Brown

Gregory Salyer

Louis T Fasano

Vincent P Zeyak, Jr

Neil G Bartow

A system and method for asynchronously transmitting data blocks, in parallel, across multiple fibers in a serial manner. Frame groups are provided as a mechanism to transmit associated data serially on each fiber and tie the data being transmitted together. The frame groups do not have sequence numbers, therefore, the receiver determines which frames are part of a frame group by the arrival times of the individual frames. The transceivers for each member of the parallel bus asynchronously achieve synchronism from either end of the fiber. Thus the need for a common clock is eliminated. The receivers on each side of the bus determine the relative skew for each conductor by performing skew measurements on a calibration message generated by the transmitters on the other side of the bus. When the skew on all conductors, viewed from both sides of the bus, has been determined, the skew values are exchanged across the bus, thus enabling the transmitters to set proper frame spacing.

Frame group transmission and reception for parallel/serial buses

Growing community of inventors

Rhinebeck, NY, United States of America

Douglas W Wescott