Apparatus for dynamic termination logic signaling
US6323673A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | May 19, 1999 |
| Grant date | Nov 27, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 19, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F13/4086
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An information handling system includes a plurality of transmission lines coupled together at one end and having a characteristic impedance, a driver circuit coupled to one of the transmission lines, a plurality of receiver circuits individually coupled to distinct ones of the transmission lines for resolving the signals, and on-chip terminators having a output impedance corresponding to the characteristic impedance and that can be coupled or decoupled from a node by on-chip circuitry. In this embodiment, the terminators are separate and distinct from driver circuitry. However, when a node is in a receive configuration, its corresponding termination resistor is tied to the transmission line at that node, and its corresponding driver circuit presents a high impedance output to the node. A second embodiment provides driver circuits having particular on-chip pull-up and pull-down resistances, one of the either the pull-up or pull-down resistances being used to terminate the bus for those nodes which are in a receive configuration. In this second embodiment, separate terminators are not required, due to the driver operating as the terminator.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.