Patent · US Active

Modular I/O bank architecture

US7378868B2 · kind B2 · utility

14Cited by
14References
40Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 9, 2006
Grant dateMay 27, 2008
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 9, 2026

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03K19/17744
  • WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A programmable device I/O architecture allows for a variable number of I/O banks. Each I/O bank is of an I/O bank type. Each I/O bank type has a fixed number of I/O pins. I/O banks of the same I/O bank type are compatible within the same programmable device and between different types of programmable devices. The largest size I/O bank type and intermediate size I/O bank types are adapted to be a compatible supersets of every smaller I/O bank type. Support pins are regularly distributed between data pins in each I/O bank type. Multiple instances of the same or compatible I/O banks are arranged to be accessible from different sides of the programmable device. To facilitate circuit board layout, each I/O bank is arranged as a mirror and/or rotation of other I/O banks on the device.

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