Programmable bit error rate monitor for serial interface
First Claim
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1. A programmable bit error rate monitor for a serial data interface, said monitor comprising:
- a bit error counter adapted to receive a serial data stream and to output a count of errors in said serial data stream;
a monitoring period counter adapted to receive (a) a clock associated with said serial data stream and (b) user input of a monitoring period duration, and to generate a monitoring period detection signal upon passage of said monitoring period duration; and
an error flag generator adapted to receive (1) user input of an error threshold, (2) said monitoring period detection signal, and (3) said count of errors from said bit error counter, and to output, in parallel, a plurality of error flags at different error resolutions, including a base error flag, when, within any said monitoring period duration, said count of errors exceeds said error threshold.
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Abstract
A programmable bit error rate monitor includes an error counter, a monitoring period counter with a programmable upper bound to set the monitoring period, and an error flag generator that compares the actual error count to a programmable threshold. The error flag generator may generate flags at different sensitivity levels, and the user may programmably select one of those flags. The three flags can be generated by independent comparators, or they can be extrapolated from the base error flag—e.g., by comparing only certain bits of the error count to corresponding bits of the threshold.
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13 Claims
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1. A programmable bit error rate monitor for a serial data interface, said monitor comprising:
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a bit error counter adapted to receive a serial data stream and to output a count of errors in said serial data stream; a monitoring period counter adapted to receive (a) a clock associated with said serial data stream and (b) user input of a monitoring period duration, and to generate a monitoring period detection signal upon passage of said monitoring period duration; and an error flag generator adapted to receive (1) user input of an error threshold, (2) said monitoring period detection signal, and (3) said count of errors from said bit error counter, and to output, in parallel, a plurality of error flags at different error resolutions, including a base error flag, when, within any said monitoring period duration, said count of errors exceeds said error threshold. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification