Serial Interface Synchronization Without a Separate Sync Line
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for synchronizing control units and peripheral units via serial interfaces often require a separate synchronization line or interrupt data communication, limiting flexibility and reliability.
Innovation Solution
Inserting a synchronization character into the data stream by delaying subsequent data sequences, allowing synchronization without interrupting communication and without the need for a separate connecting line, using a multiplexer to manage the data stream timing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a separate synchronization line is used to transmit synchronization characters, then synchronization accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the synchronization character transmission with the existing data communication channel. Instead of using a separate synchronization line, the synchronization characters are embedded within the data stream that already exists between control units and peripheral units. This merging approach maintains synchronization accuracy while eliminating the need for additional hardware connections, thereby reducing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The existing data communication interface is made multi-functional by using it for both data transmission and synchronization character transmission. The serial interface between control units and peripheral units serves dual purposes: carrying control data and embedding synchronization characters within the same communication channel, thus eliminating the need for dedicated synchronization hardware.
2Reliability
If data communication is interrupted to transmit synchronization characters, then synchronization reliability is improved, but productivity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent ensures continuous data communication by embedding synchronization characters within the ongoing data stream rather than interrupting it. The synchronization characters are inserted at appropriate points in the data flow, allowing both synchronization and data transmission to occur continuously without breaking the communication link, thus maintaining high productivity while ensuring synchronization reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
Synchronization characters are proactively inserted into the data stream at predetermined intervals or positions before potential synchronization drift occurs. This preliminary action ensures that synchronization is maintained continuously without needing to interrupt communication for corrective synchronization actions, thereby preserving both reliability and productivity.
3Device complexity
If synchronization characters are inserted into the data stream, then device complexity is reduced, but data transmission timing becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces timing management functions as intermediaries that handle the complexity of synchronization character insertion. These functions act as mediators between the data source and the communication interface, automatically managing the insertion of synchronization characters at appropriate intervals without requiring complex timing logic in the hardware, thus reducing device complexity while maintaining precise timing control.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2C
Figure 3A~3C
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for synchronizing a control unit and at least one peripheral unit comprising actuators and/or sensors, which exchange data with each other via a serial interface (3), wherein the control unit (1) sends data to the at least one peripheral unit (2), which is processed in the peripheral unit (2) for operating the actuators (22) and/or sensors (23), and wherein at least one synchronization signal (105) is transmitted from the control unit (1) to the peripheral unit (2) for synchronization.In this process, the synchronization signal (105) is appended on the control unit side to a first data sequence (101) of a data stream to be sent from the control unit (1) to the peripheral unit (2), and on the control unit (1) the sending of a second data sequence (102) to be transmitted after the first data sequence (101) is delayed, so that the second data sequence (102) is sent from the control unit (1) to the peripheral unit (2) following the synchronization signal (105).