Apparatus and method for producing identifiers regardless of mixed device type in a serial interconnection

• US 8,195,839 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2010
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NovaChips Canada Inc. (NovaChips Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: MOSAID Technologies Inc. (f/k/a Conversant Intellectual Property Management)
• Inventors: Pyeon, Hong Beom, Oh, HakJune, Kim, Jin-Ki, Sumi, Shuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Chun-Kuan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Abad, Farley
• Application Number:
  US12/892,215
• Publication Number:
  US 20110016236A1
• Time in Patent Office: 616 Days
• Field of Search: 710/8, 710/104, 710/9, 710/10, 713/1, 713/2, 713/100
• US Class Current: 710/9
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 7/1051 Data output circuits, e.g. read-out amplifiers, data output buffers, data output registers, data output level conversion circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 7/1063 Control signal output circuits, e.g. status or busy flags, feedback command signals
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 7/1078 Data input circuits, e.g. write amplifiers, data input buffers, data input registers, data input level conversion circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 7/109 Control signal input circuits

Abstract

A method and apparatus for assigning a device identifier for a plurality of devices of mixed type (e.g., DRAMs, SRAMs, MRAMs, and NAND-, NOR- and AND-type Flash memories) in a serial interconnection configuration are disclosed. One device of the serial interconnection configuration receives a device identifier (ID) and a device type (DT) as a packet through its serial input connection. A first determination is performed as to whether the DT of the device contains pre-defined data corresponding to one including all device types to provide a first determination result; and a second determination of the DT of the device is performed in response to the received DT to provide a second determination result. An ID is produced and output to a next device in response to the first and second determination results. The received ID or the produced ID is assigned to the respective devices.

Claims

1. A method for assigning a device identifier for a plurality of devices of mixed type in a serial interconnection configuration, a first device having a serial input connection coupled to a serial output connection of a previous device, a second device having a serial input connection coupled to a serial output connection of the first device, the method being adopted to at least one of the devices, the method comprising:

receiving a device identifier (ID) and a device type (DT) as a packet through the serial input connection of the first device;

performing;

a first determination whether the DT of the device contains pre-defined data corresponding to one including all device types to provide a first determination result; and

a second determination of the DT of the device in response to the received DT to provide a second determination result; and

outputting an ID in response to the first and second determination results.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of performing comprises:

performing the first determination whether the received DT of the device matches the pre-defined data; and

performing the second determination whether the received DT matches a reference DT assigned to the device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the step of performing the first determination comprises;

providing a pre-defined value as the pre-defined data that corresponds to any of the types of devices; and

the step of performing the second determination comprises;

providing the reference DT programmably.

4. An apparatus for assigning a device identifier at a first device coupled to a second device in a serial interconnection configuration, the first device having a serial input connection coupled to a serial output connection of a previous device in the serial interconnection configuration, the second device having a serial input connection coupled to a serial output connection of the first device, the devices being of different types, the apparatus comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a device identifier (ID) and a device type (DT) as a packet provided through the serial input connection of the device;

a determiner configured to perform;

a first determination of whether the DT of the device contains pre-defined data corresponding to one including all device types to provide a first determination result; and

a second determination of the DT of the device based on the received DT to provide a second determination result; and

an output ID provider configured to output an ID in response to the first and second determination results.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the output ID provider comprises:

a calculator configured to perform the calculation of the received ID with a pre-defined value.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

a device type provider configured to provide device type information (DTI) of the device.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the determiner comprises:

a first device type determiner configured to determine whether the pre-defined data is contained in the received DT to provide the first determination result; and

a second device type determiner configured to determine whether the DTI is contained in the received DT to provide the second determination result.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the output ID provider further comprises:

a selector configured to select the received ID or the calculated ID depending upon the determination results, the selected ID being outputted through the output connection of the device.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein:

the first device type determiner comprises a decoder configured to decode the received DT to provide the first determination result when the pre-defined data is detected; and

the second device type determiner comprises a comparator configured to compare the received DT with the provided DTI to provide the second determination result.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein:

the first device type determiner comprises a first comparator configured to compare the received DT with the pre-defined data to provide the first determination result; and

the second device type determiner comprises a second comparator configured to compare the received DT with the provided DTI to provide the second determination result.