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:
Oct. 04, 2005
Filed:
Oct. 25, 2000
Daniel R. Cassiday, Topsfield, MA (US);
David L. Satterfield, Tewksbury, MA (US);
Daniel R. Cassiday, Topsfield, MA (US);
David L. Satterfield, Tewksbury, MA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods and components in an interconnect system for improving the performance of the system with respect to increasing bandwidth in a serial link, increasing the processing speed of a packet in a node, and improving the calibration of links in the system are described. In one aspect of the present invention, a method of encoding framing data in a packet such that less than the normal number of framing bits is required. For example, a flit, the data unit sent over a serial link in one clock cycle, can be 88 bits in length, and a packet can be made up of one, two, or four flits. If the packet is a one- flit packet, two framing bits are inserted into the packet. If the packet is two flits, four framing bits are inserted into the packet, and if it is a four-flit packet, eight framing bits are inserted. In this way, space in the packet for data is maximized and the total number of bits of the packet can be determined either after reading a first framing bit if the packet is one flit or after reading a second framing bit if the packet is two or four flits long.