Bus Slave Circuit Selective Acknowledgement for Single-Wire Bus
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional single-wire bus architectures are limited in supporting more than four slave circuits per bus port due to the requirement for explicit acknowledgement from each slave circuit, which restricts design flexibility and efficiency in mobile communication devices.
Innovation Solution
A single-wire bus apparatus with a bus slave circuit that includes a controller to determine whether to respond to multicast or broadcast command sequences based on a predefined response policy, allowing for a mix of legacy and enhanced slave circuits to assert acknowledgement signals, thereby supporting more than four slave circuits per port.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional single-wire bus architectures require explicit acknowledgement from each slave circuit, then reliable communication is ensured, but the number of supported slave circuits per port is limited to four
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the acknowledgement mechanism by introducing two types of slave circuits: legacy slave circuits that provide explicit acknowledgements and enhanced slave circuits that do not. This segmentation allows the system to support more than four slave circuits per port while maintaining communication reliability through the legacy circuits that do provide acknowledgements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal bus interface that can accommodate both legacy and enhanced slave circuits. The master circuit is designed to handle both types of slaves, making the system versatile enough to support a larger number of slave circuits while maintaining backward compatibility with existing legacy circuits.
2Ease of operation
If legacy slave circuits always respond to multicast or broadcast command sequences, then communication simplicity is maintained, but design flexibility and power management efficiency are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamic behavior in enhanced slave circuits by enabling them to selectively respond to multicast or broadcast command sequences based on their configuration and power management requirements. This dynamic response capability allows circuits to enter low-power states when not actively needed, improving power management efficiency while maintaining design flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the response parameter of slave circuits from a fixed state (always respond) to a configurable state (respond based on predefined policies). Enhanced slave circuits can be configured to respond or not respond to broadcast/multicast commands, allowing optimization for power consumption and design flexibility while maintaining communication simplicity through the same bus interface.
3Use of energy by moving object
If enhanced slave circuits selectively respond to commands based on predefined policies, then power consumption is reduced, but communication protocol complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary configuration mechanism where enhanced slave circuits use predefined response policies (stored in configuration registers) to determine whether to respond to commands. This intermediary layer simplifies the protocol by providing a clear rule-based response mechanism rather than requiring complex real-time decision logic, thereby reducing power consumption without significantly increasing protocol complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-configuring response policies in enhanced slave circuits before operation. The circuits are programmed with predefined rules that determine their response behavior to multicast and broadcast commands, allowing them to operate in low-power modes when appropriate without requiring complex runtime protocol negotiations, thus reducing power consumption with minimal protocol overhead.
Data Source
AI summary
A single-wire bus apparatus that includes a bus slave circuit(s) is provided. The bus slave circuit(s) can receive a unicast, a multicast, and/or a broadcast command sequence over a single-wire bus. In embodiments disclosed herein, the bus slave circuit(s) can be configured to determine whether to respond to a received multicast or broadcast command sequence based on a predefined response policy. As such, the single-wire bus apparatus can be configured to mix and match a legacy slave circuit(s), which always responds to the received multicast or broadcast command sequence, with an enhanced slave circuit(s) that can decide whether to respond to the received multicast or broadcast command sequence based on the predefined response policy. As a result, it is possible to improve design and implementation flexibility, such as supporting more bus slave circuits per port.