Changing receiver configuration by replacing certain idle words with bitwise complement words

1 . A communication link configured to indicate a configuration change by replacing certain idle code words with bitwise complement code words, comprising:

a transmitter comprising an encoder configured to encode a first frame, a basic idle sequence, and a second frame, wherein the first frame, the basic idle sequence, and the second frame comprise code words;

the transmitter further comprises an idle sequence modifier configured to produce an idle sequence by replacing certain M code words of the basic idle sequence with M bitwise complement code words; wherein each bitwise complement code word appears in the basic idle sequence; and

a receiver configured to receive the first frame, the idle sequence, and the second frame; wherein the basic idle sequence is known to the receiver; and

the receiver is further configured to identify a change in configuration of the communication link based on a difference between the idle sequence and the basic idle sequence.

2 . The communication link of claim 1 , wherein the receiver is further configured to identify starting point of the second frame based on the difference between the idle sequence and the basic idle sequence.

3 . The communication link of claim 2 , wherein the receiver is configured to utilize different subsets of the difference between the idle sequence and the basic idle sequence in order to identify the change in configuration of the communication link and in order to identify the starting point of the second frame.

4 . The communication link of claim 2 , wherein the M bitwise complement code words are located at M predetermined locations relative to the end of the idle sequence.

5 . The communication link of claim 1 , wherein the change in configuration of the communication link comprises modulation change.

6 . The communication link of claim 1 , wherein the change in configuration of the communication link comprises change in number of active communication channels between the transmitter and the receiver.

7 . The communication link of claim 1 , wherein the change in configuration of the communication link comprises change in power consumption of the communication link.

8 . The communication link of claim 1 , wherein the code words are symbols, and the communication link utilizes 8b/10b encoding.

9 . A method for indicating a configuration change of a communication link by replacing certain idle code words with bitwise complement code words, comprising:

encoding a first frame, a basic idle sequence, and a second frame; wherein the first frame, the basic idle sequence, and the second frame comprise code words;

producing, by a transmitter, an idle sequence by replacing certain M code words of the basic idle sequence with M bitwise complement code words; wherein each bitwise complement code word appears in the basic idle sequence;

receiving, by a receiver, the first frame, the idle sequence, and the second frame;

wherein the basic idle sequence is known to the receiver; and

identifying, by the receiver, a change in configuration of the communication link based on a difference between the idle sequence and the basic idle sequence.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising identifying, by the receiver, starting point of the second frame based on the difference between the idle sequence and the basic idle sequence.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the receiver utilizes different subsets of the difference between the idle sequence and the basic idle sequence for identifying the change in configuration of the communication link and for identifying the starting point of the second frame.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the M bitwise complement code words are located at M predetermined locations relative to the end of the idle sequence.

13 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the change in configuration of the communication link comprises changing modulation.

14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the change in configuration of the communication link comprises changing number of active communication channels between the transmitter and the receiver.

15 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the change in configuration of the communication link comprises changing power consumption of the communication link.

16 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the code words are symbols, and the communication link utilizes 8b/10b encoding.

17 . A method for indicating a configuration change of a communication link by replacing certain idle code words with bitwise complement code words, comprising:

encoding a first frame, a basic idle sequence, and a second frame; wherein the first frame, the basic idle sequence, and the second frame comprise code words;

producing, by a transmitter, an idle sequence by replacing certain M code words of the basic idle sequence with M bitwise complement code words; wherein each bitwise complement code word appears in the basic idle sequence;

receiving, by a receiver, the first frame, the idle sequence, and the second frame;

wherein the basic idle sequence is known to the receiver;

calculating, by the receiver, a difference between the idle sequence and the basic idle sequence;

utilizing the difference to identify at least a non-zero subset of the M code words that were replaced with the bitwise complement code words; and

identifying a change in configuration of the communication link based on the non-zero subset of the M code words.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the identifying of the change is based on positions of the non-zero subset of the M code words relative to the starting point of the second frame.

19 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the identifying of the change is based on a pattern generated by the non-zero subset of the M code words.

20 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the identifying of the change is based on the number of the non-zero subset of the M code words.