| CPC H04L 7/0041 (2013.01) [H04L 1/0041 (2013.01)] | 11 Claims |

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1. A method, comprising:
obtaining, by a first chip, a first data stream, wherein the first data stream comprises a first alignment marker;
periodically inserting, by the first chip, a second alignment marker into the first data stream to obtain a second data stream; and
sending, by the first chip, the second data stream through a plurality of physical lanes, wherein a quantity of the physical lanes is not limited to 2n, wherein n is a positive integer, wherein a first insertion period of each second alignment marker and a size of the each second alignment marker are based on one or more of a first condition and a second condition, wherein the first condition is the quantity of the physical lanes, wherein the second condition is the quantity of the physical lanes and a ratio of a second rate of the second data stream to a first rate of the first data stream, wherein the first insertion period and the size of the each second alignment marker is an integer multiple of the quantity of the physical lanes, wherein the second rate is greater than or equal to the first rate, and wherein traffic per unit time that corresponds to the second rate is an integer multiple of the quantity of the physical lanes.
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