A METHOD OF AND SYSTEM FOR SYNCHRONOUSLY COMMUNICATING DATA TO A NETWORK HAVING A REFERENCE CLOCK SIGNAL

摘要

First and second data sources (106A, 106B) transmit a data signal (TXD) on a data connection and a transmit clock signal (TXC) on a clock connection. The data signal is clocked into a FIFO (226) resident in network interface equipment (110) in response to the transmit clock signal, and out of the FIFO to the network in response to a reference clock signal. The FIFO (226) generates a status signal indicating how full it is and a local clock generator (228) generates the transmit clock signal in response to this status signal. The first and a second data sources (106A, 106B) hold the data signal and transmit clock signal high for longer than a single period of the reference clock signal when switching between them. The local clock generator (228) alters an average rate of the transmit clock signal in response to the status indication signal from the FIFO in order to keep it half-full.