Reconfigurable Interface Board for Processor-Peripheral Validation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hardware system design processes for computing devices are error-prone and resource-intensive, often requiring iterative testing and redesign due to interoperability issues between processors and peripherals, leading to inefficiencies in integration and prototyping.
Innovation Solution
A modular system validation platform with reconfigurable interface circuitry that enables rapid prototyping and testing of multiple processor and peripheral combinations, allowing for dynamic reconfiguration without uncoupling the host and peripheral, and minimizing the need for redesign and fabrication of new validation platforms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If reference circuitry schematics are copied from current platform to new platform circuit board, then design process is simplified, but integration errors and interoperability issues increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary validation platform that sits between the host and peripheral devices during integration. This intermediary system provides standardized interfaces and control logic that mediate the interaction between different components, ensuring proper voltage levels, power sequencing, and signal integrity without requiring direct copying of reference circuitry to each new platform.
Solution Approach 2:
The validation platform enables dynamic adjustment of electrical parameters such as voltage levels, power sequencing timing, and signal characteristics. By changing these parameters programmatically rather than through fixed circuit design, the system can adapt to different peripheral requirements and avoid integration errors associated with copying reference schematics.
2Reliability
If iterative testing and redesign is performed to correct integration issues, then interoperability problems are resolved, but development time and resource costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The validation platform performs preliminary validation of interface circuits, power management, and signal integrity before final platform integration. By conducting these tests in advance using the intermediary validation system, potential interoperability issues are identified and resolved early in the development process, preventing costly iterative redesign cycles later.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates comprehensive telemetry and monitoring capabilities that provide real-time feedback on voltage levels, power consumption, signal integrity, and peripheral operation. This feedback mechanism enables rapid identification and correction of integration issues without requiring physical board iterations, significantly reducing development time while maintaining high interoperability standards.
3Reliability
If extensive review and testing is conducted to ensure peripheral interoperability, then system reliability is improved, but manufacturing complexity and resource requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The validation platform is designed as a universal system that can validate multiple types of peripherals and interface configurations through standardized procedures. Rather than creating specialized validation processes for each peripheral type, the intermediary platform provides a multi-functional validation environment that handles various devices using common test sequences and measurement techniques, reducing overall validation complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
This document describes apparatuses, systems, and techniques directed to a modular system validation platform for computing devices. The modular system validation platform includes an interface board for interfacing a host with a peripheral. The interface board includes an apparatus identifier, a first connector configured to couple to the host, and a second connector configured to couple to the peripheral. The interface board comprises interface circuitry that can be reconfigured to enable different peripherals to operate with the host using the same interface board. The interface circuitry enables the interoperability between the host and the peripheral by distributing power from the host to the peripheral and facilitating communications between the host and the peripheral. By using the reconfigurable interface board to test and troubleshoot the interoperability of the processor and the peripheral, resources, time and costs spent during the design and testing phases of computing devices may be minimized.