Communication device and communication system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12314211-B2
Application number	US-202318320662-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 19, 2023
Priority date	May 24, 2022
Publication date	May 27, 2025
Grant date	May 27, 2025

Abstract

The memory capacity for storing address information etc. of an I2C communication instrument, as well as the number of encoders and decoders can be reduced.
A communication device to establish communication between a first I2C communication instrument and a second I2C communication instrument connected to a communication partner device, includes: an encoder that generates Header Packet Data including a target ID of the communication partner device and I2C Packet Data including a slave address and an offset address of the second I2C communication instrument; a communication unit that transmits a transmission packet including the Header Packet Data and the I2C Packet Data generated by the encoder to the communication partner device by a TDD communication scheme and receives a reception packet from the communication partner device by the TDD communication scheme; and a decoder that generates the I2C Packet Data from the reception packet.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A communication device configured to cause a first I2C communication instrument and a second I2C communication instrument connected to a communication partner device to establish communication therebetween, the communication device comprising:
an encoder that generates Header Packet Data including a target ID of the communication partner device and I2C Packet Data including a slave address and an offset address of the second I2C communication instrument;
a communication unit that transmits a transmission packet including the Header Packet Data and the I2C Packet Data generated by the encoder to the communication partner device by a Time Division Duplex (TDD) communication scheme and receives a reception packet from the communication partner device by the TDD communication scheme; and
a decoder that generates the I2C Packet Data from the reception packet, wherein
the target ID is one of a plurality of target IDs,
the communication partner device is one of a plurality of communication partner devices,
the Header Packet Data includes the plurality of target IDs respectively corresponding to the plurality of communication partner devices.

2. The communication device according to claim 1 , wherein a memory space which stores therein the Header Packet Data and the I2C Packet Data includes a memory space for communication with the communication partner device.

3. The communication device according to claim 1 , wherein the Header Packet Data includes four of the target IDs compliant with Automotive SerDes Alliance (ASA) standards.

4. The communication device according to claim 1 , wherein the encoder and the decoder are provided so as to be shared by the plurality of the communication partner devices corresponding to the plurality of the target IDs.

5. The communication device according to claim 1 , wherein
a memory which stores therein the Header Packet Data and the I2C Packet Data has a plurality of memory spaces each having a fixed length to store therein the plurality of the target IDs included in the Header Packet Data, and
an invalid ID is stored in the memory space corresponding to the target ID that is unused.

6. The communication device according to claim 1 , wherein the Header Packet Data comprises variable-length data which includes information indicating a number of the target IDs that are valid, and in which the target IDs that are valid are arranged after the information.

7. A communication device configured to cause a first I2C communication instrument and a second I2C communication instrument connected to a communication partner device to establish communication therebetween, the communication device comprising:
an encoder that generates Header Packet Data including a target ID of the communication partner device and I2C Packet Data including a slave address and an offset address of the second I2C communication instrument;
a communication unit that transmits a transmission packet including the Header Packet Data and the I2C Packet Data generated by the encoder to the communication partner device by a Time Division Duplex (TDD) communication scheme and receives a reception packet from the communication partner device by the TDD communication scheme; and
a decoder that generates the I2C Packet Data from the reception packet, wherein
the target ID is one of a plurality of target IDs, and
the Header Packet Data includes a target code which specifies a combination of the plurality of target IDs.

8. The communication device according to claim 7 , wherein the target code comprises bit-string data having a fixed length.

9. The communication device according to claim 8 , wherein the target code comprises 4-bit data and specifies a combination of four of the target IDs.

10. A communication device configured to cause a first I2C communication instrument and a second I2C communication instrument connected to a communication partner device to establish communication therebetween, the communication device comprising:
an encoder that generates Header Packet Data including a target ID of the communication partner device and I2C Packet Data including a slave address and an offset address of the second I2C communication instrument;
a communication unit that transmits a transmission packet including the Header Packet Data and the I2C Packet Data generated by the encoder to the communication partner device by a Time Division Duplex (TDD) communication scheme and receives a reception packet from the communication partner device by the TDD communication scheme; and
a decoder that generates the I2C Packet Data from the reception packet, wherein
a memory which stores therein the Header Packet Data and the I2C Packet Data stores, as the I2C Packet Data, at least either one of I2C Configuration Data including an operation setting of the second I2C communication instrument or I2C Data for the second I2C communication instrument.

11. A communication system comprising:
a first communication device to which a first I2C communication instrument is connected; and
a second communication device to which a second I2C communication instrument is connected, and which alternately transmits and receives information within an allocated period to and from the first communication device by a Time Division Duplex (TDD) communication scheme,
wherein the first communication device includes
a first encoder that generates Header Packet Data including a target ID of the second communication device and I2C Packet Data including a slave address and an offset address of the second I2C communication instrument,
a communication unit that transmits a transmission packet including the Header Packet Data and the I2C Packet Data generated by the first encoder to the second communication device by a Time Division Duplex (TDD) communication scheme and receives a reception packet from the second communication device by the TDD communication scheme, and
a first decoder that generates the I2C Packet Data from the reception packet; and
wherein the second communication device includes a second encoder that generates Header Packet Data including a target ID of the first communication device and I2C Packet Data including a slave address and an offset address of the first I2C communication instrument, a communication unit that transmits a transmission packet including the Header Packet Data and the I2C Packet Data generated by the second encoder to the first communication device by a Time Division Duplex (TDD) communication scheme and receives a reception packet from the first communication device by the TDD communication scheme, and
a second decoder that generates the I2C Packet Data from the reception packet.

12. The communication system according to claim 11 , wherein the second I2C communication instrument further includes an I2C Slave unit to which an I2C Master unit is connected via an I2C bus.

13. The communication system according to claim 11 , wherein
a plurality of the second communication devices is connected by a daisy chain, and
the Header Packet Data is divided into a plurality of Groups, and each Group includes a plurality of the target IDs compliant with Automotive SerDes Alliance (ASA) standards.

14. The communication system according to claim 11 , wherein
a plurality of the second communication devices is connected by a daisy chain, and
the Header Packet Data includes a Group number indicating a Group and a bit string that specifies a combination of a plurality of the target IDs.

15. A communication device configured to cause a first I2C communication instrument and a second I2C communication instr

Assignees

• Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp

Inventors

• Yamada Junya
• Hyakudai Toshihisa
• Ota Satoshi

Classifications

• H04L69/22

  Parsing or analysis of headers · CPC title

• G06F2213/0016

  Inter-integrated circuit (I2C) · CPC title

• G06F13/4282 Primary

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