Virtualized physical layer adapted for EHF contactless communication
First Claim
1. An electronic device comprising:
- a host system (Host IC) operating with an Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) network architecture comprising a Physical Layer (PHY) and a first Standards-based Data Link Layer (LINK); and
an EHF contactless EHF IC (EHF IC) comprising at least one transceiver (EHF-XCVR) and capable of communicating over an EHF contactless link transmission medium with another electronic device;
characterized by;
the PHY layer (PHY) comprises at least one virtualized contactless link-based Physical Layer (VcPHY) comprising;
a contactless Physical Layer (Host-cPHY) which is adapted to implement interface specifications and medium requirements for sending and receiving signals over the EHF contactless link via the EHF contactless EHF IC (EHF IC); and
a second Link Layer (cLINK) for coupling the first Standards-based Link Layer (LINK) with the contactless Physical Layer (Host-cPHY).
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A Physical Layer (PHY) of a host system of an electronic device may be implemented as a contactless PHY (cPHY) for extremely high frequency (EHF) contactless communication and the operation of EHF transmitters (TX), receivers (RX) and transceivers (EHF-XCVR) in an extremely high frequency integrated circuit (EHF IC) of the electronic device. The Host-cPHY translates logical communications requests from the Link Layer (LINK) into hardware-specific operations to affect transmission or reception of signals over an EHF contactless link. The Link Layer (LINK) may also be optimized as a contactless Link Layer (cLINK) for EHF contactless communication. A virtualized contactless Physical Layer (VcPHY) may comprise a contactless Physical Layer (Host-cPHY), and a contactless Link Layer (cLINK) for coupling a conventional Link Layer (LINK) with the contactless Physical Layer (Host-cPHY). Multiple data streams may be transported over the EHF contactless link over a range of frequencies.
-
Citations
25 Claims
-
1. An electronic device comprising:
-
a host system (Host IC) operating with an Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) network architecture comprising a Physical Layer (PHY) and a first Standards-based Data Link Layer (LINK); and an EHF contactless EHF IC (EHF IC) comprising at least one transceiver (EHF-XCVR) and capable of communicating over an EHF contactless link transmission medium with another electronic device; characterized by; the PHY layer (PHY) comprises at least one virtualized contactless link-based Physical Layer (VcPHY) comprising; a contactless Physical Layer (Host-cPHY) which is adapted to implement interface specifications and medium requirements for sending and receiving signals over the EHF contactless link via the EHF contactless EHF IC (EHF IC); and a second Link Layer (cLINK) for coupling the first Standards-based Link Layer (LINK) with the contactless Physical Layer (Host-cPHY). - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A method of communicating between electronic devices over an EHF contactless communications link, at least one device having a host system and an EHF contactless EHF IC (EHF IC), characterized by:
-
providing at least one of the electronic devices with a virtualized contactless link-based Physical Layer (VcPHY) which is dedicated to EHF contactless communication over the EHF contactless communications link; providing a contactless Physical Layer (Host-cPHY) within the virtualized contactless link-based Physical Layer (VcPHY) which is adapted to implement interface specifications and medium requirements for sending and receiving signals over the EHF contactless communications link; and providing a contactless link-based Link Layer (cLINK) within the virtualized contactless link-based Physical Layer (VcPHY) that functionally couples a conventional Link Layer (LINK) with the contactless Physical Layer (Host-cPHY) in the virtualized contactless link-based Physical Layer (VcPHY). - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
-
-
25. A contactless communication device comprising:
-
a virtualized contactless link-based Physical Layer (VcPHY) which is adapted to implement interface specifications and medium requirements for sending and receiving signals over an EHF contactless communications link; a first, conventional, Standards-based Link Layer (LINK) that directs a first set of link training operations for the contactless link; a second Link Layer (cLINK) in the VcPHY that couples with the first Link Layer (LINK) that directs a second set of link training operations; and an EHF IC capable of communicating over the contactless communications link.
-
Specification