AS-NEEDED FORWARD ERROR CORRECTION

1 . A switch, the switch comprising:

at least one port; a serializer/deserializer; a receive controller and a transmit controller; and a switch core;

wherein the receive controller comprises an as-needed forward error correction decoder comprising a forward error correction pipeline, a bypass pipeline; and bypass selection logic configured to selectively transmit errorless codewords from the bypass pipeline.

2 . The switch of claim 1 , wherein the bypass selection logic is configured to:

receive a codeword into both the FEC pipeline and the bypass pipeline;

determine whether the codeword has an error;

if the codeword has an error, determine whether the FEC pipeline is selected,

if the FEC pipeline is not selected, select the FEC pipeline and transmitting the codeword from the FEC pipeline;

if the FEC pipeline is selected, transmit the codeword from the FEC pipeline;

if the codeword does not have an error, determine whether the codeword is a bubble codeword,

if the codeword is a bubble codeword, determine whether the bypass pipeline is selected for transmission;

if the bypass pipeline is not currently selected for transmission, select the bypass pipeline for transmission and transmitting the codeword after the bubble codeword from the bypass pipeline; and

if the bypass pipeline is currently selected for transmission, transmit the codeword after the bubble codeword from the bypass pipeline.

3 . The switch of claim 2 wherein the bypass selection logic is configured to transmit the codeword from the currently selected pipeline if the codeword is not a bubble codeword and the codeword has no errors.

4 . The switch of claim 1 wherein the bypass pipeline includes a series of buffers sized in dependence upon the length of the codeword.

5 . The switch of claim 1 wherein the transmit controller comprises an as-needed FEC encoder configured to transmit a bubble codeword to a link partner.

6 . The switch of claim 5 wherein the as-needed FEC decoder is configured to send a bubble request to a link partner; and wherein the as-needed FEC encoder is configured to send a bubble codeword to a link partner in response to a bubble request.

7 . The switch of claim 5 wherein the as-needed FEC encoder is configured to transmit a bubble codeword to a link partner in dependence upon port inactivity.

8 . The switch of claim 5 wherein the as-needed FEC encoder is configured to transmit a bubble codeword to a link partner in dependence upon link-level artifacts.

9 . A method of forward error correction, the method comprising:

receiving a codeword into both a FEC pipeline and a bypass pipeline;

determining whether the codeword has an error and determining whether the codeword is a bubble codeword;

if the codeword has an error, selecting the FEC pipeline for transmission of the corrected codeword and transmitting subsequent codewords from the FEC pipeline until a bubble codeword is received;

if the codeword does not have an error and the codeword is a bubble codeword, selecting the bypass pipeline for transmission and transmitting subsequent codewords from the bypass pipeline, beginning with the codeword after the bubble codeword, until a codeword with an error is received.

10 . The method of claim 9 further comprising transmitting the codeword from the current pipeline if the codeword does not have an error and the codeword is not a bubble codeword.

11 . The method of claim 9 further comprising requesting from, a sending switch, a bubble codeword if the codeword has an error.

12 . The method of claim 9 further comprising periodically transmitting a bubble codeword.

13 . The method of claim 9 further comprising transmitting a bubble codeword in dependence upon bit error rate.

14 . A forward error correction decoder comprising:

forward error correction pipeline;

a bypass pipeline; and

bypass selection logic configured to selectively transmit errorless codewords from the bypass pipeline.

15 . A method of as-needed forward error correction (“FEC”), the method comprising:

receiving a codeword into both a FEC pipeline and the bypass pipeline;

determining whether the codeword has an error;

if the codeword has an error, determining whether the FEC pipeline is selected,

if the FEC pipeline is not selected, selecting the FEC pipeline and transmitting the codeword from the FEC pipeline;

if the FEC pipeline is selected, transmitting the codeword from the FEC pipeline;

if the codeword does not have an error, determining whether the codeword is a bubble codeword;

if the codeword is a bubble codeword, determining whether the bypass pipeline is selected for transmission;

if the bypass pipeline is not currently selected for transmission, selecting the bypass pipeline for transmission and transmitting the codeword after the bubble codeword from the bypass pipeline; and

if the bypass pipeline is currently selected for transmission, transmitting the codeword after the bubble codeword from the bypass pipeline.

16 . The method of claim 15 further comprising transmitting the codeword from the selected pipeline if the codeword is not a bubble codeword and the codeword has no errors.

17 . The method of claim 15 further comprising requesting from, a link partner, a bubble codeword in response to receiving a codeword with an error.

18 . The method of claim 15 further comprising periodically transmitting a bubble codeword.

19 . The method of claim 15 further comprising inserting a bubble codeword in dependence upon bit error rate.

20 . The method of claim 15 further comprising inserting a bubble codeword in dependence upon port inactivity.