Tone sandhi and 8b/10b encoding: Difference between pages

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In [[telecommunication]]s, '''8B/10B''' is a [[line code]] that maps [[8-bit]] symbols to [[10-bit]] symbols to achieve [[Direct current|DC]] balance and bounded disparity, and yet provide enough state changes to allow reasonable clock recovery. This means that there are just as many "1"s as "0"s in a string of two symbols, and that there are not too many "1"s or "0"s in a row. This is an important attribute in a signal that needs to be sent at high rates because it helps reduce "[[intersymbol interference]]". The code was described in 1983 by Al Widmer and Peter Franaszek in the [[IBM]] Journal of Research and Development. IBM was issued a patent for the scheme the following year.

'''Tone sandhi''' refers to tone manipulation rules governing the pronunciation of [[tonal language]]s. ''[[Sandhi]]'' in [[Sanskrit]] means "putting together".

As the scheme name suggests, 8 [[bit]]s of data are transmitted as a 10-bit entity called a ''Symbol'', or ''Character''. The low 5 bits of data are encoded into a 6-bit group and the top 3 bits are encoded into a 4-bit group. These code groups are concatenated together to form the 10-bit Symbol that is transmitted on the wire. The ''Data Symbols'' are often referred to as Dxx.y where xx ranges from 0-31 and y from 0-7. Standards using the 8B/10B encoding also define ''Special Symbols'' (or ''Control Characters'') that can be sent in place of a ''Data Symbol''. They are often used to indicate end-of-frame, link idle, skip and similar link-level conditions. They are referred to as Kxx.y and have different encodings from any of the Dxx.y symbols. Because 8B/10B encoding uses 10-bit symbols to encode 8-bit words, each of the 256 possible 8-bit words can be encoded in two different ways, one the bit-wise inverse of the other. Using these alternative encodings, the scheme is able to affect long-term DC-balance in the serial data stream, allowing links to be capacitively coupled.

In [[Mandarin Chinese]], the most common tone sandhi rule is that the leading syllable in a set of two third-tone syllables is raised to the second tone. For example, ''ni3hao3'' ([[pinyin]]), the most common Mandarin greeting, is pronounced ''ni2hao3''.

The encoding is normally done entirely in hardware based on lookup tables. Upper levels of the software stack should be unaware that this encoding is being used.

Languages with such rules include:

* [[Mandarin Chinese]]

Among the areas in which 8B/10B encoding finds application are [[Fibre Channel]], [[Gigabit Ethernet]], [[InfiniBand]], [[XAUI]], and audio storage devices such as the [[Digital Audio Tape]] and [[Digital Compact Cassette]] (DCC). The related [[Eight-to-Fourteen Modulation]] is used in the [[Compact Disc]] standard. The encoding scheme used in [[10 Gigabit Ethernet]]'s 10GBASE-R [[Physical Media Dependent]] (PMD) interfaces, 64B/66B, while similarly created with consideration of DC balance, maximum run length, transition density, electromagnetic emissions, and the like, is considerably different in design.

* [[Sanskrit]]

* [[Taiwanese language|Taiwanese]]

==External links==

*[http://domino.research.ibm.com/tchjr/journalindex.nsf/0/b4e28be4a69a153585256bfa0067f59a?OpenDocument Original paper by Franaszek and Widmer].

*[http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/search-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=ptxt&s1=4486739.WKU.&OS=PN/4486739&RS=PN/4486739 US Patent 4,486,739], the relevant document at the US Patent and Trademark Office's site.

[[Category:Computer and telecommunication standards]]

[[Category:Line codes]]

[[fr:Encodage 8b/10b]]