The Aligner receives 32 bits of data from the transceiver interface. Port 0 data can be received on any lane, so a search for the K28.1 character is done on all the lanes to start lane alignment. After a match for K28.1 is found in the octet boundary in the 32-bit data, that octet boundary becomes the start of arbitration and the octet assigned to port 0. The next octet is assigned to port 1 and so on. This module also swaps any K28.1 character received on port 0 with the K28.5 character.