Method and device for communicating across a chip boundary including a serial-parallel data packet converter having flow control logic
First Claim
1. A single chip integrated circuit device comprising:
- a bus system for effecting communication of parallel data on chip;
functional circuitry connected to said bus system for executing an operation in response to parallel data received from said bus system;
an external port comprising a serial data input connector and a serial data output connector for supplying serial data packets between an external device and the integrated circuit device, said serial data packets each including a packet identifier indicating the length of the data packet and information defining an operation to be executed by said functional circuitry; and
a serial to parallel data packet converter interconnecting said parallel bus system and said external port and operable to read the packet identifier to determine the length of serial packets which are input through said port and to convert them into parallel data for supply in a forward direction to said bus system such that if the serial data packet has a length which exceeds the bus width, the serial data packet is converted into successive sets of parallel data and placed sequentially on the bus system,said serial to parallel converter further comprising flow control logic for indicating that it is ready to receive a subsequent data packet by transmitting a flow control signal in the reverse direction, and for requesting access to the bus system when the parallel data is ready to be output to the functional circuitry,wherein the serial to parallel conversion of the serial packets into parallel data is effected without involving the functional circuitry, and wherein the parallel data causes the functional circuitry to execute an operation dependent on said information contained in the serial packets from which it has been converted.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A single chip integrated circuit device includes a bus system for effecting communication of parallel data on chip, functional circuitry connected to the bus system for executing an operation in response to parallel data received from the bus system, an external port, and a serial to parallel data packet converter interconnecting the parallel bus system and the external port. The external port includes a serial data input connector and a serial data output connector for supplying serial data packets between an external device and the integrated circuit device. The serial data packets each include a packet identifier indicating the length of the data packet and information defining an operation to be executed by the functional circuitry. The serial to parallel data packet converter is operable to read the packet identifier to determine the length of serial packets which are input through the port and to convert them into parallel data for supply in a forward direction to the bus system, such that if the serial data packet has a length which exceeds the bus width, the serial data packet is converted into successive sets of parallel data and placed sequentially on the bus system. The serial to parallel converter further includes flow control logic for indicating that it is ready to receive a subsequent data packet by transmitting a flow control signal in the reverse direction, and for requesting access to the bus system when the parallel data is ready to be output to the functional circuitry. In this device, the serial to parallel conversion of the serial packets into parallel data is effected without involving the functional circuitry, and the parallel data causes the functional circuitry to execute an operation dependent on the information contained in the serial packets from which it has been converted.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A single chip integrated circuit device comprising:
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a bus system for effecting communication of parallel data on chip; functional circuitry connected to said bus system for executing an operation in response to parallel data received from said bus system; an external port comprising a serial data input connector and a serial data output connector for supplying serial data packets between an external device and the integrated circuit device, said serial data packets each including a packet identifier indicating the length of the data packet and information defining an operation to be executed by said functional circuitry; and a serial to parallel data packet converter interconnecting said parallel bus system and said external port and operable to read the packet identifier to determine the length of serial packets which are input through said port and to convert them into parallel data for supply in a forward direction to said bus system such that if the serial data packet has a length which exceeds the bus width, the serial data packet is converted into successive sets of parallel data and placed sequentially on the bus system, said serial to parallel converter further comprising flow control logic for indicating that it is ready to receive a subsequent data packet by transmitting a flow control signal in the reverse direction, and for requesting access to the bus system when the parallel data is ready to be output to the functional circuitry, wherein the serial to parallel conversion of the serial packets into parallel data is effected without involving the functional circuitry, and wherein the parallel data causes the functional circuitry to execute an operation dependent on said information contained in the serial packets from which it has been converted. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A single chip integrated circuit device comprising:
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a bus system for effecting communication of parallel data on chip; functional circuitry connected to said bus system for executing an operation in response to parallel data received from said bus system; an external port comprising a serial data input connector and a serial data output connector for supplying serial data packets between an external device and the integrated circuit device, said serial data packets each including a packet identifier indicating the length of the data packet and information defining an operation to be executed by said functional circuitry; and a serial to parallel data packet converter interconnecting said parallel bus system and said external port and operable to read the packet identifier to determine the length of serial packets which are input through said port and to convert them into parallel data for supply in a forward direction to said bus system such that if the serial data packet has a length which exceeds the bus width, the serial data packet is converted into successive sets of parallel data and placed sequentially on the bus system, said serial to parallel converter further comprising flow control logic for indicating that it is ready to receive a subsequent data packet by transmitting a flow control signal in the reverse direction, and for requesting access to the bus system when the parallel data is ready to be output to the functional circuitry, wherein the serial to parallel conversion of the serial packets into parallel data is effected without involving the functional circuitry, and wherein the parallel data may cause some part of the functional circuitry to execute an operation dependent on said information contained in the serial packets from which it has been converted.
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16. A method of effecting communication between a single chip integrated circuit device and an external device, the integrated circuit device comprising functional circuitry connected to an on-chip bus system for executing an operation in response to parallel data received from said bus system, the method comprising:
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at the external device formulating serial data packets which each include a packet identifier indicating the length of the serial data packet and information defining an operation to be executed by said functional circuitry; transmitting said serial data packets via a serial input connector of an external port of the single chip integrated circuit device; reading the packet identifier to determine the length of serial packets supplied from said external device via the serial input connector and converting said serial data packets with a serial to parallel converter into parallel data for supply in a forward direction to said bus system such that if the serial data packet has a length which exceeds the bus width, the serial data packet is converted into successive sets of parallel data and placed sequentially on the bus, without involving the functional circuitry; wherein said serial to parallel converter further comprises flow control logic for indicating that it is ready to receive a subsequent serial data packet by transmitting a flow control signal in the reverse direction, and for requesting access to the bus system when the parallel data is ready to be output to the functional circuitry, supplying said parallel data via the bus system to the functional circuitry to cause it to execute an operation dependent on said information contained in the serial packet. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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Specification