Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

A data transmitter is having a source of data. The data is transmitted in response to clock pulses provided by a clock pulse generator. A buffer having a fixed data storage capacity is provided for storing the data transmitted by the source of data, such data being stored in response to the clock pulses. A framer is provided for retrieving the stored data in response to a data strobe signal produced by the framer and fed to the buffer. The buffer produces a control signal representative of the level of the buffer. A level signal is fed to the clock pulse generator. A superframe strobe signal samples the level of the buffer and produces a level signal representative of the sampled level of the buffer. A clock pulse generator is provided for producing the clock pulses for the data source and the buffer at a rate selected in accordance with the level of the buffer. The data stored in the buffer is read from the buffer in response to the data strobe signal and such data and the clock pulses are provided at an output of the transmitter. With such an arrangement, the data provided by the data source and the data written into the buffer are controlled by a common clock signal provided by the clock pulse generator. The rate of the clock pulses is produced as a function of the fill/empty state of the buffer, thereby ensuring rate matching between the data source rate and the rate data read from the buffer by the framer. Thus, byte stuffing and byte robbing are no longer required thereby increasing the efficiency of the data transfer by allowing reduced overhead framing structures to be used.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim