PCI Express System Architecture

Physical Layer Overview

The Physical Layer shown in Figure 11-1 on page 398 connects to the Link on one side and interfaces to the Data Link Layer on the other side. The Physical Layer processes outbound packets before transmission to the Link and processes inbound packets received from the Link. The two sections of the Physical Layer associated with transmission and reception of packets are referred to as the transmit logic and the receive logic throughout this chapter.

Figure 11-1. Physical Layer

The transmit logic of the Physical Layer essentially processes packets arriving from the Data Link Layer, then converts them into a serial bit stream. ...