Multi-protocol aggregation transmission device, system and method

Abstract

The present invention provides a multi-protocol aggregation transmission device, system and method, the device includes an aggregation engine circuit and a configuration circuit, the aggregation engine circuit has multiple communication ports, which are used to communicate with multiple protocols through the multiple communication ports according to configuration information, and aggregate data from multiple protocols into a single aggregation channel for transmission, the multiple protocols include heterogeneous protocols and / or homogeneous protocols; the configuration circuit is used to store one or more of the configuration information corresponding to the aggregation engine circuit. The multi-protocol aggregation transmission device, system and method provided by the present invention, through the aggregation engine circuit, realizes that the multiple communication ports communicate with multiple heterogeneous protocols and / or homogeneous protocols according to the configuration information, and aggregates data from multiple protocols from multiple channels into a single aggregation channel for transmission, so as to provide transmission connection convenience for data of all aggregated protocols, reduce the number of channels, reduce equipment complexity and reduce the amount of occupied resources.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a multi-protocol aggregation transmission device, system and method. Background Art

[0002] Modern electronic devices or computer systems consist of multiple components. These components communicate with each other for control and / or data transmission purposes. The communication between these components may involve several different protocols and channels.

[0003] System designers continue to require technology platforms to provide more and more functions, while the industrial design and market trend of mobile devices is more modular design. These modular designs bring the demand for diversified connections of data and control, and today's interconnection needs to be simple, reliable, cost-effective, and support thin and stylish industrial design.

[0004] In some application scenarios, the existence of multiple communication protocols may lead to the need to use multiple channels to transmit corresponding protocol data between two physically separated areas of the system. In this case, the number and complexity of the connection channels will increase. Summary of the invention

[0005] In view of the problems existing in the prior art, the present invention provides a multi-protocol aggregation transmission device, system and method.

[0006] The present invention provides a multi-protocol aggregation transmission device, including an aggregation engine circuit and a configuration circuit, wherein:

[0007] The aggregation engine circuit has multiple communication ports, and is used to communicate with multiple protocols through the multiple communication ports according to configuration information, and aggregate data from the multiple protocols into a single aggregation channel for transmission, wherein the multiple protocols include heterogeneous protocols and / or homogeneous protocols;

[0008] The configuration circuit is used to store one or more configuration information corresponding to the aggregation engine circuit.

[0009] Optionally, the aggregation engine circuit is specifically used for:

[0010] During the configuration learning process of the aggregated channel, sending / receiving configuration information through the aggregated channel according to the configuration information;

[0011] During the protocol communication of the communication port, the port status of the communication port is detected according to the configuration information, and the port status is transmitted in the aggregation channel, wherein the port status of multiple communication ports corresponds to data of corresponding multiple protocols.

[0012] Optionally, the aggregation engine circuit communicates with the aggregation channel using a preset transmission mode, and the preset transmission mode is a synchronous mode, an asynchronous mode, or a pseudo-synchronous mode.

[0013] Optionally, the multiple protocols include a digital signal protocol and an analog signal protocol.

[0014] The present invention provides a multi-protocol aggregation transmission system, comprising a first aggregation device and a second aggregation device, wherein the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device are both the multi-protocol aggregation transmission devices described above;

[0015] The aggregation channel of the first aggregation device is coupled to the aggregation channel of the second aggregation device via one or more communication channels;

[0016] The first aggregation device is used to send the configuration information to the second aggregation device through its corresponding aggregation channel and communication channel;

[0017] The first aggregation device is used to send data to the second aggregation device through its corresponding aggregation channel and communication channel;

[0018] The second aggregation device is used to store and / or execute the configuration information received from the aggregation channel corresponding to itself;

[0019] The second aggregation device is used to deaggregate the data received from the aggregation channel corresponding to itself and send the deaggregated data to the external device.

[0020] Optionally,

[0021] The first polymerization device is specifically used for:

[0022] During the parameter learning process of the first aggregation device, the configuration information is sent to the aggregation channel for transmission; during the protocol communication process of the communication port, the port state of the communication port is detected according to the configuration information, and the port state is transmitted in the aggregation channel;

[0023] The second polymerization device is specifically used for:

[0024] storing and / or executing configuration information received via the aggregation channel during the second aggregation device parameter learning process;

[0025] During the protocol communication of the communication port, the port status received from the aggregate channel is sent to an external device through the communication port according to the configuration information;

[0026] The port states of the multiple communication ports correspond to the data of the corresponding multiple protocols.

[0027] Optionally, the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device perform a clock training process to establish one or more clock modes for a transmission connection between the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device.

[0028] Optionally, the clock mode includes a synchronous mode, an asynchronous mode or a pseudo-synchronous mode.

[0029] Optionally, the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device perform a link discovery process to detect whether there is a communication channel link between the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device.

[0030] Optionally, the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device define the behavior of the multi-protocol aggregation transmission system according to the configuration information.

[0031] Optionally, the aggregation channel between the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device transmits multi-protocol data in a time division multiplexing manner.

[0032] Optionally, the communication channel includes a physical channel and a logical channel.

[0033] The embodiment of the present invention provides a multi-protocol aggregation transmission method using the multi-protocol aggregation transmission device, including:

[0034] Communicate with multiple protocols through multiple communication ports of the aggregation engine circuit according to the configuration information, and aggregate data from the multiple protocols into a single aggregation channel for transmission, wherein the multiple protocols include heterogeneous protocols and / or homogeneous protocols;

[0035] One or more of the configuration information corresponding to the aggregation engine circuit is configured and stored by the configuration circuit.

[0036] The configuration information is transmitted on an aggregated channel.

[0037] Optionally, communicating with multiple protocols through multiple communication ports of the aggregation engine circuit according to the configuration information, and aggregating data from the multiple protocols into a single aggregation channel for transmission, includes:

[0038] During the parameter learning process of the aggregated device, the configuration information is transmitted via the aggregated channel;

[0039] During the protocol communication of the communication port, detecting the port status of the communication port according to the configuration information, and transmitting the port status in the aggregate channel;

[0040] The port states of the multiple communication ports correspond to the data of the corresponding multiple protocols.

[0041] The present invention provides a multi-protocol aggregation transmission method using the above multi-protocol aggregation transmission system, comprising:

[0042] Communicating with a plurality of protocols through a plurality of communication ports of an aggregation engine circuit in the first aggregation device according to the configuration information, and aggregating data from the plurality of protocols into a single aggregation channel for transmission to the second aggregation device, wherein the plurality of protocols are heterogeneous protocols and / or homogeneous protocols;

[0043] sending the received data of multiple protocols to an external device through an aggregation engine circuit in a second aggregation device according to the configuration information;

[0044] The configuration information is transmitted on an aggregated channel.

[0045] The multi-protocol aggregation transmission device, system and method provided by the present invention enable the multiple communication ports to communicate with multiple protocols according to configuration information through an aggregation engine circuit, and aggregate the data from multiple protocols into a single aggregation channel for transmission, so that the same channel provides transmission connection convenience for the data of all aggregated protocols, reduces the number of dedicated channels, reduces equipment complexity and reduces the amount of occupied resources. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0046] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the present invention or the prior art, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0047] Figure 1 This is a structural diagram of an embodiment of a multi-protocol aggregation transmission device of the present invention;

[0048] Figure 2 This is a structural diagram of an embodiment of a multi-protocol aggregation transmission system of the present invention;

[0049] Figure 3 This is a flow chart of an embodiment of the multi-protocol aggregation transmission method of the present invention;

[0050] Figure 4 This is a flow chart of an embodiment of the multi-protocol aggregation transmission method of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0051] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present invention clearer, the technical solution in the embodiment of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiment of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiment is a part of the embodiment of the present invention, not all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0052] Figure 1 A multi-protocol aggregation transmission device provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown, comprising an aggregation engine circuit 11 and a configuration circuit 12, wherein:

[0053] The aggregation engine circuit 11 has multiple communication ports, which are used to communicate with multiple protocols through the multiple communication ports according to configuration information, and aggregate data from multiple protocols into a single aggregation channel for transmission, wherein the multiple protocols include heterogeneous protocols and / or homogeneous protocols;

[0054] The configuration circuit 12 is used to store one or more configuration information corresponding to the aggregation engine circuit 11.

[0055] The aggregation engine circuit 11 sends the configuration information in the configuration circuit 12 to the aggregation channel for transmission to other aggregation devices.

[0056] The aggregation engine circuit 11 stores the configuration information received from the aggregation channel into the configuration circuit 12 and / or executes it.

[0057] In the embodiment of the present invention, it should be noted that in the communication process between devices, different protocol types can be used to complete the communication. For example, universal serial bus (USB), integrated circuit interconnect (I2C) bus, serial bus, integrated circuit internal audio bus (I2S), serial peripheral interface (SPI), system management bus (SMBus), Sony / Philips digital interface format (SPDIF), power transmission protocol (PD), display port, high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) and / or general input / output (GPIO) and customized protocol signals that meet the bandwidth specifications of the aggregation device, etc. are based on digital signals and / or analog signals. The types of the above protocols are given for illustrative purposes, but are not limited to this. It can be seen that different protocol types are required between devices to specify data configurations in order to complete data transmission. At the same time, it will involve several different protocols and dedicated channels, which will also increase the complexity of the device and increase the amount of resources occupied. In this regard, the aggregation device described in the embodiment of the present invention can communicate with different protocol types and aggregate data from multiple protocols into a single aggregation channel for transmission. It does not depend on the protocol type, that is, it can be applied to data transmission of multiple protocols.

[0058] In the embodiments of the present invention, it should be noted that in the aggregation communication process of multiple protocols, different ports correspond to different protocol configurations. In the parameter learning process, the configuration information transmitted between the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device includes the configuration information of the corresponding ports and protocols, thereby realizing the dynamic change of the aggregation device port function and the dynamic definition of the supported protocol types.

[0059] For communications between different devices and different protocol types, the aggregate channel can use time division multiplexing to transmit multi-protocol data. Time division multiplexing is to use different time periods of the same communication channel to transmit different data signals, which can also achieve the purpose of multi-channel transmission.

[0060] In an embodiment of the present invention, the configuration circuit is used to configure and store one or more configuration information corresponding to the aggregation engine circuit. The configuration information includes whether the port is enabled, delay parameters, whether to prevent interference, whether time stretching, jitter management, whether to strengthen certain special protocols, whether to support periodic signals, whether to support open drain, whether to support open collection, whether to support analog signals, etc. The configuration information is used to guide the operation behavior of the aggregation engine circuit.

[0061] A multi-protocol aggregation transmission device provided by an embodiment of the present invention enables the multiple communication ports to communicate with multiple heterogeneous protocols and / or homogeneous protocols according to configuration information through an aggregation engine circuit, and aggregates data from multiple protocols into a single aggregation channel for transmission, so that the same channel provides transmission connection convenience for data of all aggregated protocols, reduces the number of dedicated channels, reduces equipment complexity and reduces the amount of occupied resources.

[0062] An embodiment of the present invention provides a multi-protocol aggregation transmission device, including an aggregation engine circuit and a configuration circuit, wherein:

[0063] The aggregation engine circuit has a plurality of communication ports, and is used to detect the port status of the communication port according to the configuration information during the protocol communication of the communication port, and transmit the port status in the aggregation channel, wherein the plurality of protocols may include heterogeneous protocols and / or homogeneous protocols;

[0064] The configuration circuit is used to store one or more configuration information corresponding to the aggregation engine circuit.

[0065] In the embodiment of the present invention, the code elements of the physical layer of any digital protocol type are discrete digital signals, consisting of 0 and / or 1. Since traditional data transmission is transmitted only after receiving a complete data segment. For example, it is necessary to detect the beginning and end of a data segment, and the beginning and end of a data segment need to be analyzed for the protocol type followed by the data segment. After analyzing the protocol type, a dedicated channel needs to be used for data transmission and can only be used for a preset specific protocol.

[0066] The method described in the embodiment of the present invention not only transmits data in units of data packets, but can also be configured to transmit data in units of 0 and / or 1. This allows 1 bit of data to be transmitted when 1 bit of data is received, and does not require a large buffer space.

[0067] Since data transmission can be configured in units of 0 and / or 1, it does not depend on the protocol type followed by the data, so it is applicable to any digital protocol type and can transmit data from different protocols on the same aggregate channel.

[0068] In an embodiment of the present invention, changes in high and low levels can be detected at the communication port position. The high and low levels can be specified, for example, the high level is 1 and the low level is 0. At this time, the state signal of the port will correspond to the data signal code element, that is, the port states of multiple communication ports correspond to the data code elements of the corresponding multiple protocols. To this end, during the protocol communication process of the communication port, the port state of the communication port is detected according to the configuration information, and the port state is transmitted in the aggregate channel.

[0069] In the embodiment of the present invention, the aggregation engine circuit communicates with the aggregation channel using a preset transmission mode, and the preset transmission mode is a synchronous mode, an asynchronous mode, or a pseudo-synchronous mode.

[0070] In an embodiment of the present invention, the configuration circuit is used to configure and store one or more configuration information corresponding to the aggregation engine circuit. The configuration information includes whether the port is enabled, delay parameters, whether to prevent interference, whether time stretching, whether to support or strengthen certain special protocols, whether to support periodic signals, whether to support open drain, whether to support open collection, whether to support analog signals, etc. The configuration information is used to guide the operation behavior of the aggregation engine circuit.

[0071] A multi-protocol aggregation transmission device provided by an embodiment of the present invention detects the port status of the communication port according to the configuration information during the protocol communication at the communication port through an aggregation engine circuit, and transmits the port status in the aggregation channel, so that the same channel provides transmission connection convenience for data of all aggregated protocols, reduces the number of dedicated channels, reduces equipment complexity and reduces the amount of occupied resources.

[0072] Figure 2 A multi-protocol aggregation transmission system provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown, comprising a first aggregation device 21 and a second aggregation device 22, wherein the first aggregation device 21 and the second aggregation device 22 are both the multi-protocol aggregation transmission devices described in the above embodiment;

[0073] The aggregation channel of the first aggregation device 21 is coupled to the aggregation channel of the second aggregation device 22 via one or more communication channels;

[0074] The first aggregation device 21 is used to send configuration information to the second aggregation device 22 through its corresponding aggregation channel and communication channel;

[0075] The first aggregation device 21 is used to send data to the second aggregation device 22 through its corresponding aggregation channel and communication channel;

[0076] The second aggregation device 22 is used to store and / or execute the configuration information received from the aggregation channel corresponding to itself;

[0077] The second aggregation device 22 is used to deaggregate the data received from the corresponding aggregation channel and send the deaggregated data to the external device.

[0078] The first polymerization device 21 is specifically used for:

[0079] During the protocol communication of the communication port, detecting the port status of the communication port according to the configuration information, and transmitting the port status in the aggregate channel, wherein the port status of multiple communication ports corresponds to data of corresponding multiple protocols;

[0080] The second polymerization device 22 is specifically used for:

[0081] The port status is sent to an external device through the communication port according to the configuration information.

[0082] In the embodiment of the present invention, the aggregation channel of the first aggregation device 21 is coupled to the aggregation channel of the second aggregation device 22 through one or more communication channels. Here, the communication channel can use simplex mode, half-duplex mode, full-duplex mode, regardless of the transmission medium, wired or wireless channel, physical channel or logical channel.

[0083] In the embodiment of the present invention, data communication is performed between two devices, namely, a first device and a second device. The first device transmits data to the second device. The first aggregation device is connected to the corresponding communication port of the first device, detects the port state of the communication port according to the configuration information, and transmits the port state in the aggregation channel. The port state information is transmitted from the aggregation channel to the aggregation channel of the second aggregation device via the communication channel, and the port state is sent to the second device through the communication port according to the configuration information.

[0084] In the embodiment of the present invention, in the multi-protocol aggregation transmission system, the device for sending data is the first aggregation device, and the device for receiving data is the second aggregation device. Therefore, the following situations exist:

[0085] A. In the multi-protocol aggregation transmission system, there is one first aggregation device, there are one or more second aggregation devices, and the second aggregation device has the ability to receive data from the first aggregation device.

[0086] B. In the multi-protocol aggregation transmission system, there are one or more first aggregation devices, and each first aggregation device can send data in turn, and there are one or more second aggregation devices, which are used to receive data from the first aggregation device. The first aggregation device configured to send data can specify all second aggregation devices to receive data according to configuration information, and can also specify some of the second aggregation devices to receive data according to configuration information.

[0087] In the embodiment of the present invention, the aggregation device and the aggregation channel can operate in the following communication modes:

[0088] A. Simplex communication mode: one first aggregation device sends aggregation data, and one or more second aggregation devices receive aggregation data. This supports one-way aggregation.

[0089] B. Half-duplex communication mode: multiple aggregation devices take turns to occupy the communication channel to send aggregation data, and the remaining aggregation devices receive the aggregation data. In this case, two-way aggregation is supported.

[0090] C. Full-duplex communication mode: multiple aggregation devices send aggregation data through their corresponding communication channels, and the remaining aggregation devices receive the aggregation data. In this case, two-way aggregation is supported.

[0091] In the embodiment of the present invention, it is further explained that before data transmission, the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device perform a clock training process to establish one or more clock modes for the connection between the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device. The clock mode includes a synchronous mode, an asynchronous mode, and a pseudo-synchronous mode. Figure 2 As shown:

[0092] 1) Synchronous mode: In an embodiment of the present invention, the aggregation engine circuits of the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device operate on the same logical clock. In the synchronous mode embodiment, a common clock signal is sent via the aggregation channel.

[0093] The first aggregation device 21 further includes a local clock generator 211, and the second aggregation device 22 further includes a local clock generator 221. The local clock generator 211 of the first aggregation device 21 is configured to generate a local reference clock signal CLKA to synchronize or control different parts (e.g., aggregation engine circuits and configuration circuits) of the first aggregation device 21. The local clock generator 221 of the second aggregation device 22 is configured to generate a local reference clock signal CLKB to synchronize or control different parts (e.g., aggregation engine circuits and configuration circuits) of the second aggregation device 22.

[0094] In this embodiment, the local clock generator 211 of the first aggregation device 21 is configured to send the local reference clock signal CLKA to the second aggregation device 22 via the aggregation channel. The second aggregation device 22 is also configured to measure the received reference clock signal CLKA of the first aggregation device and adjust the local clock generator 221 based on the difference between the local reference clock signals CLKB and CLKA to match the frequency of the reference clock signal CLKA of the first aggregation device.

[0095] The first aggregation device 21 continuously sends the local reference clock signal CLKA at the agreed time to allow the second aggregation device 22 enough time to match the clock. When the clock training process is completed, the first aggregation device 21 queries the second aggregation device 22 by sending a request on the aggregation channel to determine the clock training completion status. Based on the response from the second aggregation device 22, one or more operating modes that the link can use can be indicated.

[0096] In the embodiment of the present invention, the local reference clock signal CLKA of the first aggregation device may come from a clock signal external to the device. Various reference clock signal sources are within the scope of the embodiment of the present invention.

[0097] 2) Asynchronous mode: In an embodiment of the present invention, the first aggregation device 21 and the second aggregation device 22 are configured to operate with local or external reference clock signals CLKA and CLKB of independent frequencies. Under these conditions, the asynchronous mode is enabled.

[0098] The first aggregation device 21 and the second aggregation device 22 are also configured to perform a clock data recovery (CDR) operation to recover data bits from the aggregation channel and search for the start of data. In some embodiments, the start of the data bit is determined by pattern matching. For example, the first aggregation device 21 or the second aggregation device 22 sends a preamble at the beginning of each transmission to identify the start of data. The data, length, polarity and matching requirements of the preamble are programmable. In an embodiment, the preamble is also used to recover the data bit. If the preamble pattern matches, it is determined that the data sent to the aggregation engine circuit is normal.

[0099] In the embodiments of the present invention, the first aggregation device 21 includes a CDR circuit 212, and the second aggregation device 22 includes a CDR circuit 222. The CDR circuits 212 and 222 are configured to perform the CDR operations discussed above. The CDR circuit 221 can be integrated in the aggregation engine circuit 11 of the first aggregation device 21, and the CDR circuit 222 can be integrated in the aggregation engine circuit 11 of the second aggregation device 22. In other words, in these embodiments, the CDR operations can be performed by the aggregation engine circuits of the first aggregation device 21 and the second aggregation device 22.

[0100] 3) Pseudo-synchronous mode: In pseudo-synchronous mode, the second aggregation device 22 is configured to continuously adjust the frequency of the local clock reference signal CLKB to match the frequency of the local clock reference signal CLKA of the first device 21. The pseudo-synchronous mode operation can be performed by the local clock generators 211 and 221 together with the CDR circuits 212 and 222, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In an embodiment, when operating in pseudo-synchronous mode, a clock compensation event is allowed when there is a slight difference between CLKA and CLKB.

[0101] In the embodiment of the present invention, it is further explained that before data transmission, the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device perform a link discovery process to detect whether the first aggregation device is connected to the second aggregation device through a communication link.

[0102] In the embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 The multi-protocol aggregation transmission system shown adopts a resistance termination scheme to facilitate the link discovery process. For example, when in an idle state, the first aggregation device 21 receives a logic "1" data indicating an idle value on the aggregation channel. Therefore, whenever the second aggregation device 22 is connected to the aggregation channel, the idle value received by the first aggregation device 21 changes from a logic "1" to a logic "0". Thus, the first aggregation device 21 can discover the second aggregation device 22 according to the change in the idle value.

[0103] With this arrangement, the first aggregation device 21 may further include a low power circuit 213. The low power circuit 213 is configured to monitor the aggregation channel, thereby waking up (enabling) the aggregation engine circuit if the idle value transitions from a logic "1" to a logic "0". In an embodiment, the second aggregation device 22 further includes a low power circuit 223. The low power circuit 223 is configured to monitor the aggregation channel to detect any activity.

[0104] In the embodiment of the present invention, the resistance termination scheme is implemented by a pull-up circuit and a pull-down circuit. The pull-up circuit is used to pull up the level of the aggregated channel in the first aggregation device 21 to a high voltage so as to generate an idle value of logic "1". Alternatively, the pull-down circuit is used to pull down the level of the aggregated channel in the second aggregation device 22 to a low voltage so as to generate an idle value of logic "0".

[0105] The above is an example implementation of the resistor termination scheme for illustration purposes. Various implementations of the resistor termination scheme are within the intended scope of the present invention.

[0106] In the embodiment of the present invention, a configuration learning process is required before data transmission. This process is used to set the operation behavior of the aggregation device. Figure 2 As shown, the configuration circuit 12 is used to store configuration information related to the aggregation engine circuit 11 and multiple protocol behaviors. In an embodiment of the present invention, the configuration circuit is implemented using registers. The registers store one or more register values ​​RS indicating the settings of the aggregation engine circuit. These register values ​​can be used to specify the properties of the communication channel interconnection (latency, simplex, half-duplex or full-duplex, current external transceiver, etc.), clock (asynchronous, pseudo-synchronous, source synchronous), link-level properties (preamble length, packet gap, idle value, etc.) and other configurations, as well as the number and type of protocols to be aggregated.

[0107] For example, registers may be used to specify that certain pins are implemented as open drain I / Os, while certain other pins are treated as high bandwidth inputs from the first aggregate device 21 to the second aggregate device 22, and then another pair of inputs are treated as low jitter inputs from the second aggregate device 22 to the first aggregate device 21, and a final set of pins are used to carry auxiliary channels and hot plug detect signals. In this way, an entire set of protocols may be defined to determine how (or if) they will be aggregated on an aggregate channel. In an embodiment, this configuration information is communicated from one aggregate device to another during the initialization and parameter training process.

[0108] In a non-limiting example, the training process includes transferring a set of register values ​​from the first aggregation device 21 to the second aggregation device 22. The set of register values ​​may be stored in registers of the configuration circuit. The set of register values ​​is copied from the first aggregation device 21 to the second aggregation device 22, or from the second aggregation device 22 to the first aggregation device 21.

[0109] For example: If we assume the number of register values ​​is 32. Each register (numbered 0-31) is transferred as follows:

[0110] The first aggregation device 21 sequentially sends a first byte indicating a learning index (0-31), a second byte indicating a learning value (0-255), and a third byte indicating a CRC (cyclic redundancy check) covering the first and second bytes. If the second aggregation device 22 correctly receives these bytes sent from the first aggregation device 21 (CRC matches), the second aggregation device 22 then writes the learning value into the register corresponding to the learning index.

[0111] After that, the second aggregation device 22 reads the register and sequentially sends the first byte of the learning index received from the first aggregation device 21, the second byte of the read-back value, and the third byte indicating the CRC (cyclic redundancy check) covering the first and second bytes. If the first aggregation device 21 correctly receives these 3 bytes (CRC matches), the first aggregation device 21 continues to the next learning index and repeats the same process until the final learning index is sent and successfully sent back. Finally, the first aggregation device 21 sends an index indicating the end of learning to the second aggregation device 22, so that the learning process is completed.

[0112] If a CRC error is detected from the second aggregation device 22 during the learning process, the second aggregation device 22 rejects the new learning index and responds with the same learning index of the previously correctly received sequence. If a CRC error is detected from the first aggregation device 21 during the learning process, the first aggregation device 21 stops sending the next learning index and resends the previous training sequence. If the learning process is completed, the link is enabled for aggregation.

[0113] The above is an example implementation of the configuration learning scheme for illustrative purposes. Various implementations of the configuration learning scheme are within the intended scope of the present invention.

[0114] In the embodiment of the present invention, after the connection is started, the first aggregation device 21 and the second aggregation device 22 mutually transmit data aggregation and deaggregation. In the aggregation / deaggregation process, a time division multiplexing method is adopted, and the data of multiple protocols are sent to the aggregation engine circuit of the aggregation device, and the aggregation engine circuit encodes the data of multiple protocols and transmits them in different time slots of a single aggregation channel.

[0115] The aggregation engine circuit includes one or more communication interfaces that can request to send data at any time. The aggregation engine circuit selects a port from the protocol 1-protocol N that asserts the request when entering a time division multiplexing working cycle. Therefore, the time slot corresponding to the selected port is determined. Then, the aggregation engine circuit accepts the data sent from the selected port and sends the data in the corresponding time slot.

[0116] In this embodiment, once the selected port has sent all data bits, the aggregation engine circuit further selects the next port from Protocol 1-Protocol N to perform similar operations discussed above. The aggregation engine circuit repeats the process until all data is sent by each requested port. By effectively utilizing the operations discussed above, data from Protocol 1-Protocol N is aggregated onto the aggregate channel.

[0117] During the deaggregation process, the operation of the deaggregation process is symmetrical to the operation of the aggregation process. The aggregation engine circuit of the receiving device (such as the second aggregation device) selects the corresponding port from the protocol 1-protocol N on its side when entering the time slot. Therefore, the time slot corresponding to the selected port is determined. If the selected port requests to receive more bits of data, the selected port continues to maintain its request until the last bit of data is received. Once the selected port has received all bits of data, the aggregation engine circuit selects the next port from protocol 1-protocol N to perform similar operations discussed above. The aggregation engine circuit repeats the process until each port has received all data. Through the operations discussed above, the data on the aggregated channel is deaggregated by the aggregation engine circuit and received by the corresponding device.

[0118] In this embodiment, the aggregation engine circuit can be implemented with an arbiter, but is not limited to it. In these embodiments, the aggregation engine circuit is configured to step through the send requests of each port (i.e.; protocol 1-protocol N) on one side and simultaneously step through the receive requests of each port on the other side. Each protocol of protocol 1-protocol N waits for authorization and sends / receives data until completed. The appropriate number of data bits is sent and declared for each protocol (protocol 1-protocol N).

[0119] In an embodiment of the present invention, for programmable bandwidth settings, in normal mode, each input port (protocol) is sampled once per ring cycle (time slot), and the sampled data is sent to the other end of the aggregated channel and then placed on the deaggregation output of the aggregation device. In normal mode, the sampling rate is equal to the time division multiplexing ring frequency. In order to support higher bandwidth protocols, the sampling rate can be increased. For example; the input is sampled multiple times in each time division multiplexing ring cycle, so the sampled input is sent to the deaggregation device (second aggregation device) on the other side of the aggregation link at a rate of a small fraction of the ring cycle. Alternatively, in order to support low bandwidth signals, the input can be sampled at a rate of every N ring cycles, where N is greater than 1. Using the bandwidth settings discussed above, the sampling rate of each port (protocol) is optimized to accommodate the required transmission rate while minimizing the ring size.

[0120] In the embodiment of the present invention, configurable anti-interference processing is implemented on the port (protocol) to eliminate signal glitches. For example, a level that persists for more than a certain period of time will be determined as a reliable signal. In addition, according to the external device (protocol requirements), the corresponding port pins in the aggregation engine circuit can be configured as open drain / collection states.

[0121] In the embodiment of the present invention, different signals have different processing conditions and methods during the aggregation process:

[0122] (1) Analog signal aggregation

[0123] In an embodiment of the present invention, signal sampling can be implemented on the corresponding port of the external analog signal and converted into a digital signal using an ADC (analog-to-digital converter), and then aggregated and transmitted to the aggregation device at the other end, deaggregated and restored through a DAC (digital-to-analog converter), thereby realizing aggregate transmission of the analog signal.

[0124] (2) Time-stretched signal aggregation

[0125] In the embodiment of the present invention, when there is a need for open drain / open drain, in certain external device (protocol) requirements, time stretching can be configured to be allowed. When the aggregated client pulls down / high the corresponding port level, the aggregation engine circuit of the second aggregation device 22 not only drives the output, but also drives the output of the corresponding port of the aggregation engine circuit of the first aggregation device 21. The purpose is to prevent the edge of the aggregated signal from accidentally flipping. After waiting for a preconfigured time, the aggregation engine circuit of the second aggregation device 22 detects whether there is time stretching and transmits the stretching signal to the first aggregation device 21.

[0126] (3) Periodic signal aggregation

[0127] In an embodiment of the present invention, for the clock (or periodic) mode, high-frequency signals are allowed to be reproduced. In order to aggregate high-frequency periodic signals having a frequency higher than the aggregated channel carrying bandwidth, a periodic wave generator can be used in the aggregation device. The periodic wave generator is configured to programmably generate signals with waveforms of arbitrary frequencies and duty cycles. In an embodiment, if these signals are not used for aggregation, these signals can be used to provide local clock resources.

[0128] The mechanism for transferring a periodic signal from the input aggregation to the output is explained here. First, the corresponding port is in "clock" mode. The input side enters the acquisition mode, while the output side enters the wait mode in order to receive instructions from the link partner. During the acquisition period, the input signal is continuously sampled to find edges, where the rising edge carries the frequency information and the falling edge carries the information that can be used to set the duty cycle. In the acquisition phase, the goal is to provide the starting values ​​of the high period and the low period for the periodic wave generator. A simple implementation of the acquisition phase is to run counters on the internal clock and this periodic signal. After running these counters for a predetermined time, the ratio of the relative frequencies of the two clocks can be obtained, and this ratio is also the ratio used to program the periodic clock generator. In order to set the initial duty cycle, different methods can be adopted based on the relative frequencies of the input signal and the aggregation engine circuit 11. If the input signal is relatively slow, the setting of the low period and the setting of the high period can be used directly. For higher frequency inputs, a sub-cycle sampling method can be adopted, which is similar to the logic used in the jitter mode. In some applications, at very high frequencies, the duty cycle is less important and can be configured to have a user-selectable duty cycle (eg, 50%).

[0129] After the acquisition phase is completed, the initialization phase begins. After acquisition, the high and low period setting values ​​of the waveform generator are determined. The device on the input side transmits these values ​​to the device on the output side through the aggregate channel and programs the waveform generator. The device on the input side is responsible for controlling the waveform generator so that it is aligned with the input phase. At this point the waveform generator has been programmed with the correct setting values ​​and the periodic signal on the input side is being reproduced on the output side. Technically, the signal does not pass through the aggregate channel, only the information required to reproduce the signal is transmitted. Using this mode allows aggregation of periodic signals with a frequency higher than the aggregate channel.

[0130] In an embodiment of the present invention, for periodic analog signals, such as sine waves, first, the port is configured as sine wave aggregation, the input signal is collected to obtain the frequency and amplitude, and the device on the output side uses a programmable waveform generator to generate a sine wave signal with the same amplitude and frequency.

[0131] (4) Low-jitter signal aggregation

[0132] In an embodiment of the present invention, for the jitter mode, timing information is transmitted together with the data value. For example; if the input is sampled every clock cycle, and the input changes from a logic value of 0 in cycle 11 to a logic value of 1 in cycle 12, respectively. In the next transmission, instead of sending data, information about the transition is sent, sending the fact that a 0 to 1 transition occurred in cycle 12. The link partner will then drive this 0 to 1 transition to the output during cycle 12 of the next ring. If no transition is detected during a given ring (for example, 16 cycles), a flag indicating "no transition" is sent. The remaining bits that usually carry edge position information (i.e., the transition of the signal) can be used to send the current value of the signal. With this arrangement, each edge from the near side to the far side can be reproduced with an accuracy of one cycle. Even lower jitter can be achieved by sampling and reproducing the edges with sub-cycle accuracy.

[0133] (5) Transaction Signal Aggregation

[0134] In some protocols, a data sampler is used to obtain multi-bit data and buffer it and then aggregate it to the aggregation partner on the other side for reproduction. For example, in another non-limiting example of the display port (DP) auxiliary channel (AUX) and hot plug detection (HPD) protocol, a data sampler and data buffer of the DP AUX protocol can be used. The data sampler is used to capture each data unit on the AUX (auxiliary channel) channel of the DP protocol as data for aggregation. The data buffer has the capacity to store multiple bits of data and is used to store data sampled by the data sampler. The data buffer is also used to monitor the data content to detect preambles and edges. Each HPD event is similarly captured as a set of events on the receiving side, sent through the channel and reproduced on the driving side.

[0135] In another non-limiting example of using full-speed and / or low-speed USB protocols in each protocol, a retimer of the USB protocol is used. The retimer transparently passes data from / to upstream (host) to downstream (device) or from downstream (device) through the aggregation process, allowing devices to maintain communication during aggregation without affecting system software or the USB hierarchy. (6) General Purpose Input and Output Signal Aggregation

[0136] In an embodiment of the present invention, the aggregation engine circuit can cooperate with certain functions and / or circuits of the physical layer interface to perform corresponding operations. For illustration, in the case of adopting the GPIO (general purpose input output) protocol, the read function and the drive function of the GPIO protocol can be used. The read function is used to sample the input, and the drive function is used to drive the signal to the corresponding link partner. For GPIO, if the protocol can tolerate the delay and jitter of the specific implementation of the multi-protocol aggregation transmission system, any protocol can be aggregated. In addition, with respect to GPIO, one or more settings can be adopted, including programmable bandwidth settings, open drain / collection mode, time stretching settings, jitter mode, and clock (or cycle) mode, etc. In this embodiment, although the signal driving direction in the aggregated protocol is known, in order to be independent of the protocol implementation requirements, a configurable driving direction control / indication is provided for the corresponding GPIO, and the driving direction can be configured independently of the protocol through control / indication. Therefore, settings such as conversion aggregation driving direction and conversion time can also be configured. An embodiment of the present invention provides a multi-protocol aggregation transmission system. During the protocol communication process at the communication port, an aggregation engine circuit detects the port status of the communication port according to the configuration information, and transmits the port status in the aggregation channel, so that the same channel provides transmission connection convenience for data of all aggregation protocols, reduces the number of dedicated channels, reduces equipment complexity, and reduces the amount of occupied resources.

[0137] Figure 3 It is shown that an embodiment of the present invention provides a multi-protocol aggregation transmission method using the above-mentioned multi-protocol aggregation transmission device, including:

[0138] S11, communicating with multiple protocols through multiple communication ports of the aggregation engine circuit according to the configuration information;

[0139] S12, aggregating data from multiple protocols into a single aggregate channel for transmission, wherein the multiple protocols include heterogeneous protocols and / or homogeneous protocols;

[0140] The configuration information is one or more configuration information corresponding to the aggregation engine circuit configured and stored by the configuration circuit.

[0141] The configuration information is transmitted on the aggregated channel.

[0142] The communicating with multiple protocols through multiple communication ports of the aggregation engine circuit according to the configuration information and aggregating data from multiple protocols into a single aggregation channel for transmission includes:

[0143] During the protocol communication of the communication port, the port status of the communication port is detected according to the configuration information, and the port status is transmitted in the aggregation channel.

[0144] Since the method described in the embodiment of the present invention has the same principle as the device described in the above embodiment, a more detailed explanation will not be repeated here.

[0145] An embodiment of the present invention provides a multi-protocol aggregation transmission method. During the protocol communication process at the communication port, an aggregation engine circuit detects the port status of the communication port according to the configuration information, and transmits the port status in the aggregation channel, so that the same channel provides transmission connection convenience for data of all aggregated protocols, reduces the number of dedicated channels, reduces equipment complexity, and reduces the amount of occupied resources.

[0146] Figure 4 It is shown that an embodiment of the present invention provides a multi-protocol aggregation transmission method using the above-mentioned multi-protocol aggregation transmission system, including:

[0147] S21, communicating with multiple protocols through multiple communication ports of the aggregation engine circuit in the first aggregation device according to the configuration information, and aggregating data from the multiple protocols into a single aggregation channel for transmission to the second aggregation device, wherein the multiple protocols are heterogeneous protocols and / or homogeneous protocols;

[0148] S22. Send the received data of multiple protocols to an external device through an aggregation engine circuit in the second aggregation device according to the configuration information.

[0149] The configuration information is transmitted on an aggregated channel.

[0150] Since the method described in the embodiment of the present invention has the same principle as the device described in the above embodiment, a more detailed explanation will not be repeated here.

[0151] An embodiment of the present invention provides a multi-protocol aggregation transmission method. During the protocol communication process at the communication port, an aggregation engine circuit detects the port status of the communication port according to the configuration information, and transmits the port status in the aggregation channel, so that the same channel provides transmission connection convenience for data of all aggregated protocols, reduces dedicated channels, reduces equipment complexity and reduces the amount of occupied resources.

[0152] Through the description of the above implementation methods, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that each implementation method can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform, and of course, it can also be implemented by hardware. Based on this understanding, the above technical solution is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, such as ROM / RAM, a disk, an optical disk, etc., including a number of instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in each embodiment or some parts of the embodiments.

[0153] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some of the technical features therein. However, these modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A multi-protocol aggregation transmission device, characterized in that: include: Aggregation engine circuit and configuration circuit; wherein the aggregation engine circuit has a plurality of communication ports, and is used to communicate with a plurality of protocols through the plurality of communication ports according to configuration information, and aggregate data from the plurality of protocols into a single aggregation channel for transmission, wherein the plurality of protocols include heterogeneous protocols and / or homogeneous protocols; wherein the configuration circuit is used to store one or more of the configuration information corresponding to the aggregation engine circuit; and The aggregation engine circuit is further configured to detect the port status of the corresponding communication port according to the configuration information during protocol communication via the corresponding communication port among the multiple communication ports and transmit the port status to a device through the single aggregation channel as part of data transmission, wherein the port status of each communication port among the multiple communication ports corresponds to the data code element of the corresponding protocol among the multiple protocols.

2. The multi-protocol aggregation transmission device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The aggregation engine circuit is further configured to: During the configuration learning process of the single aggregate channel, configuration information is sent / received through the single aggregate channel according to the configuration information.

3. The multi-protocol aggregation transmission device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The aggregation engine circuit communicates with the single aggregation channel using a preset transmission mode, where the preset transmission mode is a synchronous mode, an asynchronous mode, or a pseudo-synchronous mode.

4. The multi-protocol aggregation transmission device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The plurality of protocols include a digital signal protocol and an analog signal protocol.

5. A multi-protocol aggregation transmission system, characterized in that: It comprises a first aggregation device and a second aggregation device, wherein the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device are both multi-protocol aggregation transmission devices described in any one of claims 1 to 4 above; The single aggregation channel of the first aggregation device is coupled to the single aggregation channel of the second aggregation device via one or more communication channels; The first aggregation device is used to send the configuration information to the second aggregation device through its corresponding aggregation channel and communication channel; The first aggregation device is used to send data to the second aggregation device through its corresponding aggregation channel and communication channel; The second aggregation device is used to store and / or execute configuration information received from the aggregation channel corresponding to itself; and The second aggregation device is used for deaggregating the data received from the corresponding aggregation channel and sending the deaggregated data to the external device.

6. The multi-protocol aggregation transmission system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The first polymerization device is specifically used for: During the parameter learning process of the first aggregation device, sending the configuration information to a single aggregation channel of the first aggregation device for transmission; and During protocol communication via the communication port, detecting a port status of the communication port according to the configuration information and transmitting the port status through a single aggregation channel of the first aggregation device; and The second polymerization device is specifically used for: storing and / or executing configuration information received via a single aggregation channel of the second aggregation device during the second aggregation device parameter learning process; and During protocol communication via the communication port, the port status received from the single aggregation channel of the second aggregation device is sent to an external device via the communication port according to the configuration information; The port state of each communication port among the multiple communication ports corresponds to a data code element of a corresponding protocol among the multiple protocols.

7. The multi-protocol aggregation transmission system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The first aggregation device and the second aggregation device perform a clock training process to establish one or more clock modes for a transmission connection between the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device.

8. The multi-protocol aggregation transmission system according to claim 7, characterized in that: The one or more clock modes include a synchronous mode, an asynchronous mode, or a pseudo-synchronous mode.

9. The multi-protocol aggregation transmission system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The first aggregation device and the second aggregation device perform a link discovery process to detect whether there is a communication channel link between the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device.

10. The multi-protocol aggregation transmission system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The first aggregation device and the second aggregation device define the behavior of the multi-protocol aggregation transmission system according to the configuration information.

11. The multi-protocol aggregation transmission system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The aggregation channel between the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device transmits multi-protocol data in a time division multiplexing manner.

12. The multi-protocol aggregation transmission system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The communication channel includes a physical channel and a logical channel.

13. A multi-protocol aggregation transmission method using the multi-protocol aggregation transmission device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: include: Communicate with multiple protocols through multiple communication ports of the aggregation engine circuit according to the configuration information, and aggregate data from the multiple protocols into a single aggregation channel for transmission, wherein the multiple protocols include heterogeneous protocols and / or homogeneous protocols; and configuring and storing, by the configuration circuit, one or more of the configuration information corresponding to the aggregation engine circuit; The configuration information is transmitted on the single aggregate channel. The communicating with multiple protocols through multiple communication ports of the aggregation engine circuit according to the configuration information and aggregating data from multiple protocols into a single aggregation channel for transmission includes: During protocol communication via a corresponding communication port among the multiple communication ports, a port state of the corresponding communication port is detected according to the configuration information and as part of data transmission, the port state is transmitted to a device through the single aggregate channel, wherein the port state of each communication port among the multiple communication ports corresponds to a data codeword of a corresponding protocol among the multiple protocols.

14. The multi-protocol aggregation transmission method according to claim 13, characterized in that: The method further comprises: communicating with multiple protocols through multiple communication ports of the aggregation engine circuit according to the configuration information, and aggregating data from multiple protocols into a single aggregation channel for transmission, and further comprising: During the parameter learning process of the multi-protocol aggregation transmission device, configuration information is transmitted through the single aggregation channel.

15. A multi-protocol aggregation transmission method using the multi-protocol aggregation transmission system according to any one of claims 5 to 12, characterized in that: include: communicating with a plurality of protocols through a plurality of communication ports of an aggregation engine circuit in the first aggregation device according to configuration information, and aggregating data from the plurality of protocols into a single aggregation channel for transmission to the second aggregation device, wherein the plurality of protocols are heterogeneous protocols and / or homogeneous protocols; Sending the received data of multiple protocols to an external device through an aggregation engine circuit in the second aggregation device according to the configuration information; and The configuration information is transmitted on the single aggregate channel.

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