Method and transceiver system having a transmit clock signal phase that is phase-locked with a receive clock signal phase
View Patent ↗A transceiver system is disclosed that includes a plurality of transceiver chips. Each transceiver chip includes one or more SERDES cores. Each SERDES core includes one or more SERDES lanes. Each SERDES lane includes a receive channel and a transmit channel. The transmit channel of each SERDES lane is phase-locked with a corresponding receive channel. The transceiver system has the capability of phase-locking a transmit clock signal phase of a transmitting component with a receive clock signal phase of a receiving component that is a part of a different SERDES lane, a different SERDES core, a different substrate, or even a different board. Each SERDES core receives and transmits data to and from external components connected to the SERDES core, such as hard disk drives. A method of transferring data from a first external component coupled to a receive channel to a second external component coupled to a transmit channel is also disclosed.
1. A transceiver comprising:
a plurality of serializer/deserializer (SERDES) cores, each SERDES core having one or more SERDES lanes, each SERDES lane having a receive channel and a transmit channel,
wherein each transmit channel is configured to be phase-locked with a corresponding receive channel, the corresponding receive channel being of a different SERDES lane than that of the transmit channel.
2. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the SERDES cores receives and transmits data to and from external components.
3. The transceiver of claim 2 , wherein the external components include disk drives.
4. The transceiver of claim 2 , wherein the external components include databases.
5. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the transmit channel is part of a first SERDES lane of a common SERDES core, and the corresponding receive channel is part of a second SERDES lane of the common SERDES core.
6. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the transmit channel is part of a first SERDES lane of a first SERDES core, and the corresponding receive channel is part of a second SERDES lane of a second SERDES core.
7. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver is one of a plurality of transceiver chips.
8. The transceiver of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of transceiver chips are disposed on a common board.
9. The transceiver of claim 7 , wherein a first transceiver chip of the plurality of transceiver chips is disposed on a first board, and a second transceiver chip of the plurality of transceiver chips is disposed on a second board.
10. A method of transferring data from a first external component coupled to an active receive channel of a transceiver system to a second external component coupled to an active transmit channel of the transceiver system, in which a transmit clock signal of the active transmit channel is phase-locked with a receive clock signal of the active receive channel, the method comprising:
receiving, at the active receive channel, external component data from the first external component;
transferring the external component data and receive clock phase data from the active receive channel to the active transmit channel;
phase-locking the transmit clock signal with the receive clock signal per the receive clock phase data; and
transmitting, from the active transmit channel, the external component data to the second external component.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein:
the receiving step receives the external component data in analog format;
the transferring step transfers the external component data and receive clock signal phase data in digital format; and
the transmitting step transmits the external component data in analog format.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein:
the receiving step receives the external component data in series;
the transferring step transfers the external component data and receive clock signal phase data in parallel; and
the transmitting step transmits the external component data in series.
13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the active transmit channel and the active receive channel are each part of a common serializer/deserializer (SERDES) lane of a SERDES core.
14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the active transmit channel is part of a first SERDES lane of a common SERDES core, and the active receive channel is part of a second SERDES lane of the common SERDES core.
15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the active transmit channel is part of a first SERDES lane of a first SERDES core, and the active receive channel is part of a second SERDES lane of a second SERDES core.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first SERDES core and the second SERDES core are disposed on a common substrate.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first SERDES core is disposed on a first substrate and the second SERDES core is disposed on a second substrate.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are disposed on a common board.
19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the first substrate is disposed on a first board and the second substrate is disposed on a second board.
20. The method of claim 10 , wherein one of the first and second components is a disk drive.