Bus serialization for devices without multi-device support

US9740658B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Harald Freudenberger · Fellbach, DE
• Thomas Hess · Bad Liebenzell, DE
• Martin Raitza · Eppelheim, DE
• Philip S. Schulz · Stuttgart, DE
• Markus Strasser · Penzberg, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 19, 2014
• Grant date: Aug 22, 2017
• Expiry date: Jun 3, 2035

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F13/4291
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A serial bus is provided with a device (sometimes herein referred to as an I2C serializer device) including circuitry and machine logic that operates as follows: when one of the master devices is using the bus for data communication, then the other master(s) will receive a wait signal until the bus becomes available again. This wait signal allows the master devices to wait as a “hardware response,” rather than requiring the master devices to be equipped with software and/or firmware to control the operation of waiting until the serial bus is available. In some embodiments, the use of the I2C serializer device allows a bus operating under a bus serialization protocol (for example, I2C) to be simultaneously connected to multiple master devices even in the case that one, or more, master device(s) do not include any currently conventional form of multi-master support.