Communication system, communication system control method, and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10140230-B2
Application number	US-201815879728-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 25, 2018
Priority date	Oct 1, 2015
Publication date	Nov 27, 2018
Grant date	Nov 27, 2018

Abstract

Communication systems and communication control methods are disclosed. In one example, a slave device belonging to a group of devices to which arbitration is applicable sequentially transmits a start bit and a first address including a first bit having a value different from a corresponding first bit of predetermined pattern data. A master device sequentially transmits the start bit and the predetermined pattern data. The master device arbitrates the master device and the first slave device based on the value of the first bit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A slave device comprising:
a communication circuitry configured to sequentially transmit a start bit and an address that includes a first bit, wherein inclusion or non-inclusion in a group for which arbitration is necessary is set according to the first bit,
wherein a master device separate from the slave device is configured to transmit a start bit and a predetermined pattern including a first bit,
wherein, when a first bit value of the address is different from the first bit of the predetermined pattern data in an arbitration, it is determined that an event for which arbitration is necessary has occurred, and
in a case where the master is able to accept the event, the communication circuitry receives an acknowledgement from the master device, and
in a case where the master is unable to accept the event, the communication circuitry does not receive an acknowledgement from the master device.

2. The slave device according to claim 1 ,
wherein a restart condition indicating communication restart is initiated when the acknowledgment is received after the start bit and the predetermined pattern data are transmitted.

3. The slave device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the event includes at least one of an in-band interrupt request, a secondary master request, or a peer to peer slave request.

4. The slave device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the address is a dynamically assigned address that is received following transmission of the predetermined pattern data.

5. The slave device according to claim 1 ,
wherein a remainder of the predetermined pattern data is received in an open drain circuit mode when it is determined that the event for which arbitration is necessary has occurred.

6. The slave device according to claim 5 ,
wherein the remainder of the predetermined pattern data is received in a push-pull circuit mode when it is determined that the event for which arbitration is necessary has not occurred.

7. The slave device according to claim 1 ,
wherein a remainder of the predetermined pattern data is received in a push-pull circuit mode when it is determined that the event for which arbitration is necessary has not occurred.

8. The slave device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the slave device stores first setting information indicating inclusion in the group for which arbitration is necessary,
wherein a second slave device stores second setting information indicating inclusion in a group for which arbitration is unnecessary,
wherein the address of the slave device is allocated as a first address based upon the first setting information, wherein a first bit of the first address indicates inclusion in the group for which arbitration is necessary, and
wherein the address of the second slave device is allocated as a second address based upon the second setting information, wherein a first bit of the second address indicates inclusion in the group for which arbitration is unnecessary.

9. The slave device according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second slave devices respectively store the first and second setting information in a bus characteristic register.

10. The slave device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the group for which arbitration is necessary is a group including slave devices able to perform an in-band interrupt request.

11. The slave device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the group for which arbitration is necessary is a group including slave devices able to perform a secondary master request.

12. The slave device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the group for which arbitration is necessary is a group including slave devices able to perform a peer to peer slave request.

13. The slave device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the event is an in-band interrupt request, and
in the case where the master is able to accept the event that is the in-band interrupt request, the communication circuitry receives the acknowledgement transmitted from the master device, data is transmitted and received between the master device and the slave device, and a process is performed by the master device on the received data.

14. The slave device according to claim 13 ,
wherein the data that is transmitted and received between the master device and the slave device is according to a push-pull circuit mode where the master is able to accept the event that is the in-band interrupt request.

15. A slave device comprising:
a communication circuitry configured to sequentially transmit a start bit and an address that includes a first bit, wherein inclusion or non-inclusion in a group for which arbitration is necessary is set according to the first bit,
wherein a master device separate from the slave device is configured to transmit a start bit and a predetermined pattern including a first bit,
wherein, when a first bit value of the address is different from the first bit of the predetermined pattern data in an arbitration, it is determined that an event for which arbitration is necessary has occurred, and
wherein the address of the slave device is allocated as a first address or a second address based upon setting information, wherein a first bit of the first address indicates inclusion in the group for which arbitration is necessary and a first bit of the second address indicates non-inclusion in the group for which arbitration is necessary.

16. A slave device comprising:
a communication circuitry configured to sequentially transmit a start bit and an address that includes a first bit, wherein inclusion or non-inclusion in a group for which arbitration is necessary is set according to the first bit,
wherein a master device separate from the slave device is configured to transmit a start bit and a predetermined pattern including a first bit,
wherein, when a first bit value of the address is different from the first bit of the predetermined pattern data in an arbitration, it is determined that an event for which arbitration is necessary has occurred, and
wherein the predetermined pattern data is transmitted in an open drain circuit mode.

17. A slave device comprising:
a communication circuitry configured to sequentially transmit a start bit and an address that includes a first bit, wherein inclusion or non-inclusion in a group for which arbitration is necessary is set according to the first bit,
wherein a master device separate from the slave device is configured to transmit a start bit and a predetermined pattern including a first bit,
wherein, when a first bit value of the address is different from the first bit of the predetermined pattern data in an arbitration, it is determined that an event for which arbitration is necessary has occurred,
wherein a dynamic addressing is performed wherein the first bit of the predetermined pattern data is set to a predetermined value, and
wherein the arbitration includes a determination of collision according to the first bit value where the slave device transmit to the master device the address, with the first bit of the address having the first bit value differing from the predetermined value.

18. The slave device according to claim 17 ,
wherein transmission is made in a push-pull mode in an absence of determining collision.

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Takahashi Hiroo
• Koshisaka Naohiro
• Lee Sonfun

Classifications

• G06F2213/0052

  Assignment of addresses or identifiers to the modules of a bus system · CPC title

• G06F13/4282

  on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus (on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247) · CPC title

• G06F13/362

  with centralised access control · CPC title

• G06F13/4291 Primary

  using a clocked protocol · CPC title

• G06F13/364 Primary

  using independent requests or grants, e.g. using separated request and grant lines · CPC title