Low power SerDes architecture and protocol

1. A multi-lane communication method that comprises, in a transceiver:

receiving receive signals on different receive channels;

converting each of the receive signals into a lane of a multi-lane receive data stream, wherein said converting includes demodulation and error measurement;

determining remote pre-equalizer adaptation information based at least in part on the error measurement;

using alignment markers in each lane of the multi-lane receive data stream to align the lanes;

extracting local pre-equalizer adaptation information from the multi-lane receive data stream, said adaptation information being included in, or proximate to, the alignment markers in at least one lane of the multi-lane receive data stream;

using the local pre-equalizer adaptation information to adjust one or more coefficients of a local pre-equalization filter;

periodically inserting an alignment marker in each lane of a multi-lane transmit data stream, wherein the remote pre-equalizer adaption information is included in, or inserted proximate to, the alignment markers in at least one lane of the multi-lane transmit data stream;

transforming each lane of the multi-lane transmit data stream into a transmit signal, wherein said transforming includes modulating and further includes applying the local pre-equalization filter; and

transmitting the transmit signals on different transmit channels.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the remote pre-equalizer adaptation information and the local pre-equalizer adaptation information each identifies at least one filter coefficient and a change to be applied to the identified at least one filter coefficient, and wherein the remote pre-equalizer adaptation information includes a field for indicating status of one or more coefficients of the local pre-equalization filter, and the local pre-equalizer adaptation information includes a field for indicating status of one or more coefficients of the remote pre-equalization filter.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said converting includes applying a forward error correction (FEC) decoder, and wherein said transforming includes applying an FEC encoder to the multi-lane transmit data stream before said modulating.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein each lane of the multi-lane transmit data stream and the multi-lane receive data stream includes adaptation information.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein only one lane of the multi-lane transmit data stream and the multi-lane receive data stream includes adaptation information.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more redundant copies of the local adaptation information are associated with each alignment marker in at least one lane of the multi-lane receive data stream.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the local adaptation information is modulated with a symbol set having an increased minimum distance and/or an increased symbol period relative to the multi-lane receive data stream's symbol set for conveying user data.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein local adaptation information is transmitted with duplication or forward error correction (FEC) encoding.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein prior to said receiving and transmitting, the method comprises conducting pre-equalization filter training on each transmit channel independently by:

obtaining a receive training signal;

converting the receive training signal into a sequence of receive training frames, wherein said converting the receive training signal includes demodulation and training error measurement;

extracting local pre-equalizer filter training information from a control field in each receive training frame;

using the local pre-equalizer filter training information to adjust one or more coefficients of the local pre-equalization filter;

determining remote pre-equalizer training information based at least in part on the training error measurement;

generating a sequence of transmit training frames, each transmit training frame including a control field and a training pattern, the control field including the remote pre-equalizer training information;

transforming the sequence of transmit training frames into a transmit training signal,

wherein said transforming the sequence includes modulating and further includes applying the local pre-equalization filter; and

sending the transmit training signal.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein a coefficient select portion of the control field in each receive training frame and each transmit training frame is wide enough to identify at least 64 coefficients.

11. A communications transceiver that comprises:

multiple receivers, each receiver receiving and demodulating a receive signal from a corresponding receive channel to provide a data stream corresponding to one lane of a multi-lane receive data stream;

one or more adaptation modules that derive error measurements from the receive signals and responsively determine remote pre-equalizer adaptation information;

a deskew module that uses alignment markers in each lane of the multi-lane receive data stream to align the lanes;

one or more extraction modules that extract local pre-equalizer adaptation information from the multi-lane receive data stream, said adaptation information being included in, or proximate to, the alignment markers in at least one lane of the multi-lane receive data stream;

one or more training controllers that update coefficients of local pre-equalization filters using the local pre-equalizer adaptation information;

an alignment marker insertion module that periodically inserts an alignment marker in each lane of a multi-lane transmit data stream, wherein the remote pre-equalizer adaption information is included in, or inserted proximate to, the alignment markers in at least one lane of the multi-lane transmit data stream;

multiple transmitters, each transmitter modulating a data stream corresponding to one lane of the multi-lane transmit data stream and applying one of said local pre-equalization filters to provide a transmit signal to a corresponding transmit channel.

12. The transceiver of claim 11 , wherein the remote pre-equalizer adaptation information and the local pre-equalizer adaptation information each identifies at least one filter coefficient and a change to be applied to the identified at least one filter coefficient, and wherein the remote pre-equalizer adaptation information includes a field for indicating status of one or more coefficients of the local pre-equalization filter, and the local pre-equalizer adaptation information includes a field for indicating status of one or more coefficients of the remote pre-equalization filter.

13. The transceiver of claim 11 , further comprising:

a forward error correction (FEC) decoder that decodes the data streams from the multiple receivers to provide the multi-lane receive data stream; and

an FEC encoder that encodes the multi-lane transmit data stream to provide said data streams to the multiple transmitters for modulation.

14. The transceiver of claim 11 , wherein each lane of the multi-lane transmit data stream and the multi-lane receive data stream includes adaptation information.

15. The transceiver of claim 11 , wherein only one lane of the multi-lane transmit data stream and the multi-lane receive data stream includes adaptation information.

16. The transceiver of claim 11 , wherein one or more redundant copies of the local adaptation information are associated with each alignment marker in at least one lane of the multi-lane receive data stream.

17. The transceiver of claim 11 , wherein the local adaptation information is modulated with a symbol set having an increased minimum distance and/or an increased symbol period relative to the multi-lane receive data stream's symbol set for conveying user data.

18. The transceiver of claim 11 , wherein the local adaptation information is sent redundantly or with forward error correction (FEC) encoding.

19. The transceiver of claim 18 , wherein the one or more training controllers implement independent training phases on each transmit channel prior to sending and receiving of transmit and receive signals conveying multi-lane transmit and receive data streams, and wherein during the training phases, the one or more training controllers generate sequences of transmit training frames each including a control field and a training pattern, the control field including remote pre-equalizer training information.

20. The transceiver of claim 19 , wherein a coefficient select portion of the control field in each transmit training frame is wide enough to identify at least 64 coefficients of a remote pre-equalization filter.