Patent · US Expired

Apparatus and method for converting data in serial format to parallel format and vice versa

US7016346B1 · kind B1 · utility

3Cited by
13References
35Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 21, 1999
Grant dateMar 21, 2006
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 21, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L69/08
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Converters and a corresponding method for converting serial data to parallel format and vice versa, particularly for use in switches for telecommunications applications. The converters comprise a storage element associated with each serial channel and comprising two arrays of storage elements. At any one time, the storage elements are accessed sequentially while those of the other array are accessed in parallel. A data bus, divided into portions by buffers, connects the by buffers, connects the serial channel to all storage cells in an associated storage element. For serial to parallel conversion, the buffers latch data from one bus portion to the next in accordance with a write cycle during which one storage element is written. Writing commences from the bus portion furthest from the incoming serial channel and storage elements on either side of a buffer are written simultaneously. The resulting delay between writing arrays words allows checking of the data such as synchronization.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.