Bidirectional communication protocol between a serializer and a deserializer

A method provides a bidirectional communication protocol for data communication between a first device and a second device. The method includes: during a first time interval, transmitting data from the first device to the second device; and during a second time interval, (a) after the occurrence of a first event, (i) suspending data transmission from the first device to the second device; and (ii) transmitting control data from the second device to the first device; and (b) after the occurrence of a second event, transmitting control data from the first device to the second device.