Extremely high frequency systems and methods of operating the same
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- establishing a connection between two physical layers that exchange data with each other via a half-duplex contactless link, wherein a first physical layer serves as an upstream device and wherein the second physical layer serves as a downstream device, wherein the establishing comprises;
managing the half-duplex contactless link by selectively transitioning a contactless communications unit (CCU) between transmit and receive modes of operation, wherein the managing comprises;
executing a state machine that tracks a state of the CCU during the establishment of the connection via the half-duplex contactless link, wherein the state machine transitions through a plurality of states in response to signals received via the half-duplex contactless link; and
transmitting data via the half-duplex contactless link in response to a state transition of the state machine.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments discussed herein refer to systems, methods, and circuits for establishing EHF contactless communications links. The EHF contactless communication link may serve as an alternative to conventional board-to-board and device-to-device connectors. The link may be a low-latency protocol-transparent communication link capable of supporting a range of data rates. The link may be established through a close proximity coupling between devices, each including at least one EHF communication unit. Each EHF unit involved in establishing an EHF communication link may progress through a series of steps before data can be transferred between the devices. These steps may be controlled by one or more state machines that are being implemented in each EHF communication unit.
16 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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establishing a connection between two physical layers that exchange data with each other via a half-duplex contactless link, wherein a first physical layer serves as an upstream device and wherein the second physical layer serves as a downstream device, wherein the establishing comprises; managing the half-duplex contactless link by selectively transitioning a contactless communications unit (CCU) between transmit and receive modes of operation, wherein the managing comprises; executing a state machine that tracks a state of the CCU during the establishment of the connection via the half-duplex contactless link, wherein the state machine transitions through a plurality of states in response to signals received via the half-duplex contactless link; and transmitting data via the half-duplex contactless link in response to a state transition of the state machine. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A downstream device operative to receive data via a half-duplex contactless link from an upstream device, the downstream device comprising:
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a physical layer (PHY) operative to establish a connection with the upstream device; contactless communication (CC) circuitry coupled to the PHY, the CC circuitry comprising a transceiver operative to receive contactless signals from the downstream device via the half-duplex contactless link, wherein the CC circuitry is operative to; execute a first state machine that tracks a state of the CC circuitry during the establishment of the half-duplex contactless communications link, wherein the first state machine transitions through a plurality of states in response to data received from the upstream device via the half-duplex contactless link; and transmit data via the half-duplex contactless link to the upstream device in response to a state transition of the state machine. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A first contactless communications unit (CCU) for use in establishing a contactless communications link with a second CCU, the first CCU including:
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a transducer for selectively transmitting and receiving extremely high frequency (EHF) contactless signals via a half-duplex contactless communications link; and circuitry operative to; execute a first CCU state machine that tracks a state of the first CCU during the establishment of the contactless communications link, wherein the state machine transitions through a plurality of states in response to satisfaction of any one of a plurality of conditions; for at least one of the plurality of states, instruct the transducer to alternate between transmitting EHF contactless signals to the second CCU and monitoring for EHF contactless signals transmitted by the second CCU to determine whether one of the conditions is satisfied. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification