Patent 7298299 was granted and assigned to Altera on November, 2007 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A receiving device oversamples incoming serial data using multiple phases of its system clock. The device detects an initial edge in the set of samples and selects a sample based on the location of the initial edge. A first bit is set to the value of the selected sample. A portion of the set of samples following the initial edge. If an edge is detected, then a sample is selected based upon the location of the detected edge and the next bit is set to the value of the selected sample. If an edge is not detected within this portion, then the position of the next edge is estimated. A sample is selected based upon the location of the estimated edge and the next bit is set to the value of the selected sample. The analysis is repeated for another portion of the set of samples following the newest edge.