MEMORY ARBITRATOR FOR ELECTRONICS COMMUNICATIONS DEVICES

• US 20130005241A1
• Filed: 06/28/2011
• Published: 01/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: OCHIKUBO, Craig Fukuo
• Granted Patent: US 8,879,985 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/1605 based on arbitration arbitration in handling access to a common bus or bus system G06F13/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/18 based on priority control G06F13/1605 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention include electronic communications devices having a memory in near field communication device, a memory arbitrator and a host processor. The near field communication (NFC) devices are configured to receive data and drive power from the communication signal. The memory arbitrator is connected to the NFC device and the memory. The memory arbitrator is also configured to access the memory in response to an access request from the NFC device. Additionally, the memory is configurable to be accessed by both the host processor and the NFC device according to embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a memory;

a near field communication (NFC) device configured to receive data and derive power from a communication signal;

a host processor;

a memory arbitrator configured to access the memory in response to a first memory access request from the NFC device or in response to a second memory access request from the memory arbitrator.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the memory arbitrator is configured to be powered by power derived by the NFC device.

3. The electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising a battery.

4. The electronic device according to claim 3, wherein the battery is configured to be recharged by power derived by the NFC device.

5. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the memory arbitrator is configured to perform power management functions.

6. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the NFC device is configured to transmit data to another device.

7. The electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of functional components connected to the memory arbitrator, wherein the memory arbitrator is configured to access the memory in response to access requests from the functional components without involving the host processor.

8. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein one or more of the functional components is configured to be powered by power derived by the NFC device.

9. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein the memory arbitrator is configured to activate one or more of the functional components.

10. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein the memory arbitrator is configured to process access requests from the plurality of functional components and from the NFC device according to a priority assigned to each of the plurality of functional components and the NFC device.

11. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein the plurality of functional components includes at least one of:

a telephony component, a wireless internet component, a Bluetooth component, and a security component.

12. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein one or more of the plurality of functional components and the NFC device is configured to access the memory while the host processor is inactive.

13. A memory arbitrator comprising:

a near field communication (NFC) device interface configured to receive data and power from an NFC device;

a memory interface configured to access a memory; and

a functional component interface configured to communicate with one or more functional components,

wherein the memory arbitrator is configured to facilitate memory access by the NFC device.

14. The memory arbitrator according to claim 13, further comprising a memory arbitrator controller.

15. The memory arbitrator according to claim 13, further comprising a power management component configured to perform power management functions.

16. The memory arbitrator according to claim 13, wherein the memory arbitrator is configured to be powered by power from the NFC interface.

17. The memory arbitrator according to claim 13, wherein the memory arbitrator is configured to facilitate memory access by one or more functional components.

18. The memory arbitrator according to claim 13, wherein the memory arbitrator is configured to activate one or more functional components through the functional component interface.

19. The memory arbitrator according to claim 13, wherein the functional component interface is configured to interface with at least one of:

a telephony component, a wireless internet component, a Bluetooth component, and a security component.

20. The memory arbitrator according to claim 13, further comprising a host processor interface connected to a host processor.

21. The memory arbitrator according to claim 20, wherein the memory arbitrator is configured to facilitate a memory access while the host processor is inactive.