Methods and apparatus for the intelligent association of control symbols

• US 9,647,701 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2014
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Whitby-Strevens, Colin
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ghafoerkhan, Faiyazkhan
• Application Number:
  US14/273,258
• Publication Number:
  US 20150078479A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,097 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 19/00 Electric signal transmission systems G08C17/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0475 with means for limiting noise, interference or distortion H04B1/0483 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/12 Neutralising, balancing, or compensation arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/4908 using mBnB codes

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for the intelligent association of control symbols with special symbols that are transmitted over a network. In one embodiment, the association is utilized to improve DC-balance on a transmission medium. In an exemplary variant, the special symbols originate from line codes such as the 8B/10B line code, which format a digital signal so that is optimized for transmission over a given physical channel. These control symbols are divided up according to a first criterion, while the special symbols are further divided up according to a second criterion. The divided control symbols are then allocated to the divided special symbols using a pre-designated allocation algorithm, which may or may not include a scrambling algorithm. The allocation of the control symbols improves signal characteristics and electromagnetic interference (EMI) when various ones of control symbols are ultimately transmitted over a given transmission medium.

Claims

1. An apparatus configured to receive media according to one or more transmitted control functions, the apparatus comprising:

a receiver configured to receive one or more control codes associated with one or more corresponding control functions, at least one of the one or more control codes being dynamically encoded; and

logic in communication with the receiver and configured to determine a corresponding control function for each control code of the received one or more control codes, the logic configured to;

determine whether the each control code comprises a dynamically encoded control code or a non-encoded control code;

decode the dynamically encoded control code based on one or more contents of a linear feedback shift register (LFSR);

identify a corresponding control function from the decoded control code based on a look-up table; and

identify a corresponding fixed control function based on the non-encoded control code;

wherein the received one or more control codes are divided into a first group and a second group based on a different frequency of use of respective ones of the received one or more control codes.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, where the look-up table comprises an association of one or more control functions to one or more control symbol sequences.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, where the one or more control symbol sequences comprise a plurality of control codes.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, where the corresponding fixed control function is based on a single non-encoded control code.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, where the single non-encoded control code is configured to cause a reset of the LFSR.