An apparatus includes an interface circuit and an encoder circuit. The interface circuit is configured to send a data packet via a plurality of segments, and to send an idle value via the plurality of segments when no data packet is available. The idle value is configured to cause a segment in a receiving apparatus to idle. The encoder circuit is configured to receive a particular data packet, and, if a portion of the particular data packet has a same value as the idle value for a subset of the plurality of segments, to replace at least a portion of the data packet with a mask value to generate a modified data packet. The mask value indicates how to recreate the particular data packet. The encoder circuit is further configured to send the modified data packet to the receiving apparatus via the plurality of segments of the interface circuit.