[802.3ae] Clause 48: Check_end Question
Gentlemen,
I've just joined the reflector after an extensive search of your archives
in an effort to answer my question. The last discussion of the check_end
function was back in May 2001, so hopefully things have settled down
enough so that there's a concrete answer. I realize it's poor netiquette
for a newbie to just start firing off questions, but *really*, I spent
the whole weekend searching the archive. While watching football. :-)
My question:
The check_end defintion in C48.2.5.1.4 says that an /E/ is returned
in all lanes less than n in ||T|| (where n is the lane number of the /T/
in ||T||) for which an RD error or any code-group other than /A/ or /K/
is recognized in the column after ||T||. Did this really mean to apply
to the *entire* column following ||T||, or just the corresponding lane in
the column following ||T||, for each lane less than n?
If the receiver sees this input:
... D D A R ...
... D D A R ...
... D T A R ...
... D K A* R ...
where "A*" is an A with a disparity error, should the receiver return
this as a response:
... D E I I ...
... D E I I ...
... D T I I ...
... D I E I ...
It seems the A* disparity error is clearly *not* part of the preceding
data packet, or the error would have been caught by the disparity-biased
/K/ that preceded it. Not only is the single error reported twice (as
/E/ is replacing the two data code-groups in lanes 0 and 1 of ||T||),
but it's reporting an error that occurred *after* the data packet. :-\
The check_end definition goes on to say that /E/ is returned for all
lanes greater than n in the column preceding ||T||, for which an RD error
or a code-group other than /K/ is recognized in the corresponding lane
of ||T||. The "corresponding lane" part here makes me wonder why that
phrase wasn't used in the first half of the defintion. I presume it's
used in the second half of the definition so that a single RD error in
the in this example:
... D T A R ...
... D K A R ...
... D K A R ...
... D K* A R ...
won't cause this kind of response:
... D T I I ...
... E I I I ...
... E I I I ...
... E E I I ...
By adding "corresponding lane", only the lane 3 error is pushed-back
inside the data packet and the data packet ends up with only one error
(which is the right number, after all). This makes good sense -- why
doesn't it apply to the first half of the check_end defintion?
Any insights into this situation?
Doug
-- -------------------------------------------------------------------
___, Doug Massey, ASIC Digital Logic Designer
\o IBM Microelectronics Division, Burlington, Vermont |>
| Phone: (802)769-7095 t/l: 446-7095 fax: x6752 |
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. My homepage: http://doug.obscurestuff.com (|)