Methods and apparatus for providing a serializer and deserializer (serdes) block facilitating high-speed data transmissions for a field-programmable gate array (FPGA)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11874792-B2
Application number	US-202217968646-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 18, 2022
Priority date	May 12, 2021
Publication date	Jan 16, 2024
Grant date	Jan 16, 2024

Abstract

A method for providing a high-speed data communication between a host and field-programmable gate array (“FPGA”) is disclosed. The method, in one embodiment, is capable of identifying a data rate on a bus containing a P-channel and an N-channel operable to transmit signals in accordance with a high-speed Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) protocol. Upon sampling, by a first input deserializer, first two samples of data signals carried by the P-channel in accordance with a first clock signals clocking twice as fast as the data rate of the P-channel, a second input deserializer is used to sample the second two samples of data signals transmitted by the N-channel in accordance with a second clock signal running twice as fast as the data rate of the N-channel with a ninety (90) degree phase shift. The method subsequently forwards the data signals to one or more configurable logic blocks (“LBs”) in FPGA.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for network communication containing a host, a bus, and a programmable device able to perform user configurable logic functions, comprising:
a host computer capable of facilitating high-speed (“HS”) network data transmission;
a bus coupled to the host computer for providing HS serial data transmission; and
a programmable logic device (“PLD”) coupled to the bus and configured to have,
a drive block configured to establish a handshaking process between the host computer and the PLD via the bus for HS data transmissions;
an IO serdes block (“ISB”) coupled to the drive block and configured to facilitate serdes operation at HS data rate without employing clock synchronizing circuitry, the ISB including a first input deserializer configured to obtain first two samples of data signals on a P-channel in accordance with a first clock having a clock cycle running twice speed as data rate at the P-channel, the ISB including a second input deserializer configured to obtain second two samples of data signals on an N-channel in accordance with a second clock with a ninety (90) degree phase shift of the first clock wherein the second clock has a clock cycle running twice speed as data rate at the N-channel.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the bus includes a P-channel and an N-channel operable to transmit signals in accordance with a high-speed Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) protocol.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the PLD includes a plurality of configurable logic blocks (“LBs”) coupled to the first input deserializer and configured to be selectively programmed to perform one or more user defined logic functions.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the ISB includes a sample decoder coupled to the first input deserializer and configured to generate decoded data in response to the first two samples of data signals and the second two samples of data signals.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the sample decoder is able to adjust clocking times for the first clock and the second clock to compensate bit slips due to clock drift.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the ISB includes a non-return-to-zero-inverted (“NRZI”) decoder coupled to the sample decoder and configured to remove bit stuff from the decoded data.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the ISB includes a first clock clocking at a range from 12 mega bit per second to 960 mega bit per second (“Mbps”).

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the ISB includes a second clock is clocking at 960 Mbps with a ninety (90) degree phase shift.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 ,
wherein the first clock is clocking at 0 degree and 180 degree oversampling time slots; and
wherein the second clock is clocking at a 90 degree and 270 degree oversampling time slots.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the ISB includes a transmitter coupled to an 8:1 output serializer and configured to transmit the stream of serial bits in accordance with a range of clock speed from 12 megabits per second to 480 megabits per second.

11. An apparatus containing a programmable device able to perform user configurable logic functions, the device comprising:
a bus having a P-channel and an N-channel operable to transmit signals in accordance with a high-speed Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) protocol;
an eight-to-one (“8:1”) output serializer coupled to an encoder and configured to serialize 8 bits data into a sequence of 8 bits for high-speed data transmission;
a clock block coupled to the output 8:1 serializer and configured to provide a first clock running between 12 megahertz and 480 megahertz (“MHz”) with zero (0) degree phase shift, a second clock running between 12 MHz and 480 MHz with 90 degrees phase shift; and
a transmitter coupled to the 8:1 output serializer and configured to transmit the sequence of 8 bits in accordance with the first clock.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising a non-return-to-zero-inverted (“NRZI”) encoder coupled to the bus and configured to encode eight (8) bits data obtained from one or more configurable logic blocks (“LBs”).

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising a first input deserializer coupled to the P-channel and configured to obtain first two samples of data signals on the P-channel in accordance with a first clock having a clock cycle running twice speed as data rate at the P-channel.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising a second input deserializer coupled to the N-channel and configured to obtain second two samples of data signals on the N-channel in accordance with a second clock with a ninety (90) degree phase shift of the first clock having a clock cycle running twice speed as data rate at the N-channel.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising a plurality of configurable logic blocks (“LBs”) configured to the encoder and configured to be selectively programmed to perform one or more user defined logic functions.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein a portion of the plurality of configurable LBs is configured to facilitate a termination of the P-channel.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the clock block includes a third clock running 60 Mhz.

18. A method of providing a high-speed (“HS”) data communication between a host and field-programmable gate array (“FPGA”) comprising:
coupling an FPGA to a host via a bus capable of supporting HS network data transmission;
activating a drive block of FPGA to negotiate transmission speed between the host and FPGA regarding data rate of serial data transmission over the bus;
sampling, by a first input deserializer, first two samples of data signals carried by a P-channel in accordance with first clock cycles clocking twice as fast as the data rate at the P-channel; and
sampling, by a second input deserializer, second two samples of data signals transmitted by an N-channel in accordance with second clock cycles running twice as fast as the data rate at the N-channel with a ninety (90) degree phase shift.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein activating a drive block of FPGA to negotiate transmission speed further comprising identifying a data rate on the bus containing a P-channel and an N-channel operable to transmit signals in accordance with a high-speed Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) protocol.

20. The method of claim 18 , further comprising forwarding the data signals to one or more configurable logic blocks (“LBs”) in FPGA.

21. The method of claim 18 , further comprising decoding, by a sample decoder, the data signals sampled by the first and the second input deserializers to generate decoded data based on the first two samples of data signals and the second two samples of data signals.

22. The method of claim 18 , further comprising adjusting, by a sample decoder, clocking times for the first clock signal to compensate bit slips due to clock drift based on information obtained from the first two samples and the second two samples.

23. The method of claim 18 , further comprising generating data by a non-return-to-zero-inverted (“NRZI”) decoder by removing bit stuff from received data signals.

24. The method of claim 18 , further comprising serializing 8 bits data into a sequence of 8 bits for a high-speed data transmission.

Assignees

• Gowin Semiconductor Corp

Inventors

• Jennings Grant Thomas

Classifications

• G06F13/4291 Primary

  using a clocked protocol · CPC title

• G06F1/08

  Clock generators with changeable or programmable clock frequency · CPC title

• H03K19/17744

  for input/output signals · CPC title

• H03M5/04

  the pulses having two levels · CPC title

• H03M9/00

  Parallel/series conversion or vice versa (digital stores in which the information is moved stepwise per se G11C19/00) · CPC title