Detecting bus faults

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10635518-B2
Application number	US-201715798442-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2017
Priority date	Oct 31, 2017
Publication date	Apr 28, 2020
Grant date	Apr 28, 2020

Abstract

A technique includes monitoring a sequence of bits of data communicated to a transmitter of a node, where the transmitter communicates signals with a bus in response to the sequence of bits. The technique includes determining whether the sequence of bits represents acknowledgement by the node that data was received from the bus in an associated data frame and represents detection by the node of an error associated with the data frame. The technique includes detecting a fault associated with the bus based on the result of the determination.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
monitoring, by a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), a sequence of bits of data communicated to a transmitter of a node to detect the processor communicating a first sequence of a dominant bit followed by a recessive bit, wherein the transmitter communicates signals with a bus in response to the sequence of bits;
detecting, by the CPLD, a second sequence sensed by a receiver in response to the transmitter communicating with the bus in response to the first sequence, wherein the second sequence comprises a dominant bit followed by a recessive bit and wherein the fault detector maintains a count value representing a number of successive times that the fault detector detects the combination of the first sequence and the second sequence; and
disabling, by the CPLD, the node from communicating with the bus based on the count value and a time rate associated with detection of the combination of the first sequence and the second sequence.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising disabling a bus transceiver coupled to the bus.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
enabling, by the CPLD, the node to communicate with the bus after the disabling of the node;
monitoring, by the CPLD, another sequence of bits of data communicated to the transmitter, wherein the another sequence of bits causes the transmitter to communicate data to the bus;
determining, by the CPLD, whether the another sequence of bits represents acknowledgment that other data was received from the bus and no error associated with communication of the other data received from the bus; and
allowing, by the CPLD, the node to remain enabled to communicate with the bus in response to the determination of whether the another sequence of bits represents acknowledgment that other data was received from the bus and no error associated with communication of the other data received from the bus.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
detecting an idle period of a minimum predetermined duration; and
enabling the node to communicate with the bus after the disabling of the node in response to the detection of the idle period.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sequence of bits represents assertion of a dominant bit during an acknowledgment slot of a data frame to indicate that the data was received from the bus and an error flag due to a dominant bit being detected by the node in an acknowledgment delimiter bit slot of the frame.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sequence comprises a bit representing acknowledgement by the node that data was received from the bus, and the bit is immediately followed by another sequence of bits of the bit sequence representing detection by the node of the error associated with the data frame.

7. An apparatus comprising:
a bus to communicate signals associated with a dominant and recessive bit-based protocol;
a processor;
a bus transceiver coupled to the bus comprising a transmitter and a receiver; and
a CPLD to:
monitor communication between the processor and the bus transceiver to detect the processor communicating a first sequence of a dominant bit followed by a recessive bit to the transmitter, wherein the transmitter communicates with the bus in response to the first sequence;
monitor communication between the processor and the bus transceiver to detect the receiver communicating a second sequence sensed by the receiver in response to the transmitter communicating with the bus in response to the first sequence, wherein the second sequence comprises a dominant bit followed by a recessive bit and wherein the CPLD maintains a count value representing a number of successive times that the CPLD detects the combination of the first sequence and the second sequence; and
based on the count value and a time rate associated with detection of the combination of the first sequence and the second sequence, disable the bus transceiver.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the CPLD disables the bus transceiver in response to the count value reaching a predefined value.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein:
the CPLD comprises a counter to store the count value;
the CPLD increments the counter to increment the count value in response to detection of the combination of the first sequence and the second sequence;
the CPLD resets the counter to reset the count value in response to detection of a combination of the first sequence and the receiver communicating a third sequence sensed by the receiver in response to the transmitter communicating with the bus in response to the first sequence, wherein the third sequence comprises a dominant bit followed by a dominant bit; and
the CPLD disables the bus transceiver in response to the count value reaching a predefined value.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the CPLD to track a number of successive dominant bits communicated by the receiver to the processor and disable the transceiver based on the number.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the first sequence comprises the dominant bit immediately followed by the recessive bit, and the second sequence comprises the dominant bit immediately followed by the recessive bit.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the CPLD to track a number of successive recessive bits communicated by the receiver to the processor and disable the transceiver based on the number.

13. An apparatus comprising:
a bus to communicate signals associated with a dominant and recessive bit-based protocol;
a processor;
a bus transmitter to generate signals on the bus in response to data being communicated from the processor to the bus transmitter; and
a CPLD to:
monitor the communication of data from the processor to the bus transmitter to detect the processor communicating a first sequence of a dominant bit followed by a recessive bit;
monitor communication between the processor and the bus transmitter to detect a receiver communicating a second sequence sensed by the receiver in response to the bus transmitter communicating with the bus in response to the first sequence, wherein the second sequence comprises a dominant bit followed by a recessive bit and wherein the CPLD maintains a count value representing a number of successive times that the CPLD detects the combination of the first sequence and the second sequence; and
disable a bus transceiver based on the count value and a time rate associated with detection of the combination of the first sequence and the second sequence.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 ,
wherein the bus transceiver comprises the bus transmitter.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the CPLD re-enables the bus transceiver based on a predetermined sequence of recessive bits being detected in the communication of second data from the processor to the bus transmitter, the second data representing the bus transmitter generating a dominant bit in an acknowledgement bit slot of a second data frame to acknowledge receipt of data communicated over the bus in the second data frame, and the second data representing the bus transmitter not asserting an error flag associated with the second data frame.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising: detect a fault associated with the bus in response to the data representing the bus transmitter generating a dominant bit in an acknowledgement bit slot of a data frame to acknowledge receipt of data communicated over the bus in the data frame and representing an error flag associated with the data frame.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the receiver is coupled to th

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Entpr Dev Lp

Inventors

• Olson Alex
• Rhodes Thomas

Classifications

• G06F11/349

  for interfaces, buses · CPC title

• G06F13/4286

  using a handshaking protocol, e.g. RS232C link · CPC title

• G06F11/2007

  using redundant communication media · CPC title

• H04L43/0847

  Transmission error · CPC title

• G06F11/079 Primary

  Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis (in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36) · CPC title