The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 14, 2001
Filed:
Feb. 22, 1999
Una Quinlan, Dublin, IE;
Con Cremin, Dublin, IE;
Eugene O'Neill, Dublin, IE;
J. Noel Butler, Galway, IE;
Mark A. Hughes, Dublin, IE;
Neil O. Fanning, County Cork, IE;
3Com Technologies, Grand Cayman, KY (US);
Abstract
A plurality of serial data streams are transmitted on a corresponding plurality of lines at a common frequency in equal groups of symbols. A framing signal composed of groups of symbols corresponding in number to groups of data symbols is transmitted on an additional control line. Each group of symbols in the framing signal includes a majority of symbols capable of representing a first plurality of code words and a second plurality, substantially less than the first plurality, of valid code words, and a minority of symbols which constitute parity check symbols. Each of the valid code words consists of a first sub-group of similar symbols and a second plurality of similar symbols. For some of the valid code words the symbols in the first sub-group are similar to the symbols in the second sub-group. For other valid code words the symbols in the first sub-group are different from the symbols in the second sub-group. The valid code words correspond to groups which represent (a) start of a data packet or block; (b) data/(c) a gap between groups of data; and (d) an idle state. The sequence of groups in the framing signal is monitored by means of a state machine.