VSC7216-06
Data Sheet
Note that this pattern is found in three special characters, K28.1, K28.5 and K28.7, however, K28.5 is chosen as the
unique IDLE character. Only K28.1 and K28.5 should be used in normal operation. The K28.7 character should be
reserved for test and characterization use.
Character alignment occurs when the deserializer synchronizes the 10-bit character framing boundary to a comma
pattern in the incoming serial data stream. If the receiver identifies a comma pattern in the incoming data stream that
is misaligned to the current framing boundary, then the receiver will re-synchronize the recovered data in order to
align the data to the new comma pattern. Resynchronization ensures that the comma character is output on the
internal 10-bit bus so that bits 0 through 9 equal 0011111xxx or 1100000xxx. If the comma pattern is aligned with the
current framing boundary, resynchronization will not change the current alignment. Resynchronization is always
enabled and cannot be turned off when ENDEC is HIGH. After character resynchronization the VSC7216-06 ensures
that within a link, the 8-bit data sent to the transmitting VSC7216-06 will be recovered by the receiving VSC7216-06
in the same bit locations as the transmitter (i.e., Tn[7:0] = Rn[7:0]). When ENDEC is LOW, Comma detection and
alignment are enabled only if KCHAR is HIGH.
10B/8B Decoder
The 10-bit character from the deserializer is decoded in the 10B/8B decoder, which outputs the 8B data byte and three
bits of status information. If the 10-bit character does not match any valid value, an out-of-band error is generated,
which is output on the receiver status bus. Similarly, if the running disparity of the character does not match the
expected value, a disparity error is generated. The decoder also reports when a K-character is received, and
distinguishes the K28.5 (IDLE) character from other K-characters. This status information is combined with LOS
State Machine status and FIFO error status, to produce the prioritized per-character link status output information (see
Table 9 on page 18).
Elastic Buffer and Channel Deskewing
Elastic buffers are included in each of the four receive channels. Decoded data and status information are written into
these buffers on each channel’s recovered clock and are read on the selected output clock. In addition to allowing
decoded data to easily cross from a channel’s recovered clock domain to its output clock domain, the elastic buffers
facilitate two other functions. Through inter-channel deskewing they allow channel alignment (the reconstruction of a
multi-byte word as presented to the transmitting devices). They also facilitate rate matching through IDLE character
insertion/deletion when the channel’s recovered clock is not frequency-locked to its output clock.
The VSC7216-06 supports three levels of inter-channel deskewing through setting the RXFIFO0 and RXFIFO1 pins.
The amount of deskewing selected directly affects the receiver latency and word alignment capability of the device.
The user is thus enabled to determine the optimum trade-off between deskewing, latency and word alignment for the
particular application. The relationship between these parameters is detailed in “Word Alignment” on page 13.
There are three conditions under which a receive channel’s elastic buffer is recentered. The RESETN input, when
asserted, recenters the read/write pointers in each elasticity buffer. Whenever a comma character is received that
changes the receive character’s framing boundary, the elasticity buffer is recentered. Lastly, it is also recentered
whenever the receiver detects the synchronization point in the Word Sync Sequence. All three of these events are
associated with chip initialization or link initialization and would not occur during normal data transfer. Note that
recentering can result in the loss or duplication of decoded character data and status information.
When a condition changes transmit timing (for example, phase shifts in TBC) or shifts phase/alignment into the
receiver, the user should initiate a Word Sync Event to recenter all elasticity buffers. Otherwise, data corruption could
occur.
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G52416, Revision 4.0
December 2006