On-chip data signal eye monitoring circuitry and methods
US8111784B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 11, 2008 |
| Grant date | Feb 7, 2012 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 19, 2030 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L25/063
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for gathering information about the eye of a high-speed serial data signal include sampling each bit of a repeating, multi-bit data pattern at several eye slice locations. For any given eye slice location, each bit in the data pattern is compared in voltage to a base line reference signal voltage to establish a reference value for that bit. Then the reference signal voltage is gradually increased while the voltage comparisons are repeated until for some bit a result of the comparing is different than the reference value for that bit. This establishes an upper value for the eye at the eye slice location. The reference signal voltage is then gradually decreased to similarly find a lower value for that eye slice.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.