Abstract: An approach to data communication makes use of a protocol for encoding data on a serial link that provides both a run length limiting function and a frame marking function, while minimizing communication overhead over the data bearing portions of the signal, and while limiting latency introduced into the communication. In some examples, a single bit is added as a frame marker in such a way that a single bit frame marker also limits run length.

Abstract: An approach to data communication makes use of a protocol for encoding data on a serial link that provides both a run length limiting function and a frame marking function, while minimizing communication overhead over the data bearing portions of the signal, and while limiting latency introduced into the communication. In some examples, a single bit is added as a frame marker in such a way that a single bit frame marker also limits run length.

Abstract: Both link-level and path-level performance monitoring is obtained in any point of a multi-link network where transmitting points in the network are adapted to transmit codes only from a subset of the codes that receiving points in the network are adapted to receive, with one of the codes that transmitting points are adapted to transmit being chosen to represent an error-reporting code, and substituting, at monitoring points, any received code that is not one of the codes in the subset with the error-reporting code. By measuring the number of received codes that are in error, a link-level error measure is obtained, and by measuring the number of error-reporting codes, a path-level measure is obtained.