(12) United States Patent ao) Patent No.: us 6,463,092 Bi
Kim et al. (45) Date of Patent: Oct. 8,2002
"Phase Modulation I/O Interface Circuit"; Kazutaka Nogami et al.; IEEE International Solid-State Circuit Conference; vol. 37 Feb. 1994 (New York, US); 3 pages.
Loinaz, Marc J., Wooley, Bruce A., "A BiCMOS Time Interval Digitizer for High-Energy Physics Instrumentation", Center for Integrated Systems, Stanford University, IEEE 1993 Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, pp. 28.6.1-28.6.4.
Primary Examiner—Chi Pham
Assistant Examiner—Khanh Cong Tran
(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Perkins Coie LLP; Paul
Hickman; Steve S. Kelley
The system preferably includes a unique transmitter that sends both clock and data signals over the same transmission line. The receiver uses the same transmission line to send data signals back to the transmitter. The transmitter comprises a clock generator, a decoder and a line interface. The clock generator produces a clock signal that includes a variable position falling edge. The falling edge position is decoded by the receiver to extract data from the clock signal. The receiver comprises a clock re-generator, a data decoder and a return channel encoder. The clock re-generator monitors the transmission line, receives signals, filters them and generates a clock signal at the receiver from the signal on the transmission line. The return channel encoder generates signals and asserts them on the transmission line. The signal is asserted or superimposed over the clock & data signal provided by the transmitter.
26 Claims, 17 Drawing Sheets
