Hybrid bus apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020334185-A1
Application number	US-201916599384-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 11, 2019
Priority date	Apr 18, 2019
Publication date	Oct 22, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

A hybrid bus apparatus is provided. The hybrid bus apparatus includes a hybrid bus bridge circuit configured to couple a master(s) with one or more auxiliary slaves via heterogeneous communication buses. The hybrid bus bridge circuit and the auxiliary slaves are associated with respective unique slave identifications (USIDs). The master(s) can only support a fixed number of the USIDs, and thus a fixed number of the auxiliary slaves. The hybrid bus bridge circuit is configured to opportunistically mask some or all of the auxiliary slaves such that the respective USIDs associated with the masked auxiliary slaves can be reused by the master(s) to support additional slaves. As such, it may be possible to extend the capability of the master(s) to support more slaves than the fixed number of USIDs the master(s) can provide, thus enabling flexible heterogeneous bus deployment in an electronic device incorporating the hybrid bus apparatus.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A hybrid bus apparatus comprising:
at least one master; one or more auxiliary slaves corresponding to one or more unique slave identifications (USIDs), respectively; and a hybrid bus bridge circuit comprising:
at least one primary port coupled to the at least one master via at least one primary bus;
at least one auxiliary port coupled to the one or more auxiliary slaves via at least one auxiliary bus;
a register circuit comprising at least one slave mask corresponding to the at least one master and the at least one auxiliary bus, the at least one slave mask configured to mask at least one selected auxiliary slave among the one or more auxiliary slaves corresponding to at least one selected USID among the one or more USIDs; and
a control circuit configured to block a communication between the at least one master and the at least one selected auxiliary slave based on the at least one slave mask.

2 . The hybrid bus apparatus of claim 1 wherein:
the at least one primary bus corresponds to at least one radio frequency front-end (RFFE) bus; and
the at least one auxiliary bus corresponds to at least one single-wire bus (SuBUS).

3 . The hybrid bus apparatus of claim 1 wherein the control circuit is further configured to bridge a communication between the at least one master and at least one of the one or more auxiliary slaves not masked by the at least one slave mask.

4 . The hybrid bus apparatus of claim 1 further comprising one or more second auxiliary slaves corresponding to one or more second USIDs, respectively, wherein the hybrid bus bridge circuit further comprises at least one second auxiliary port coupled to the one or more second auxiliary slaves via at least one second auxiliary bus that is identical to the at least one auxiliary bus.

5 . The hybrid bus apparatus of claim 4 wherein the register circuit further comprises at least one second slave mask corresponding to the at least one master and the at least one second auxiliary bus, and the at least one second slave mask is configured to mask at least one selected second auxiliary slave among the one or more second auxiliary slaves corresponding to at least one selected second USID among the one or more second USIDs.

6 . The hybrid bus apparatus of claim 5 wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
block a communication between the at least one master and the at least one selected second auxiliary slave based on the at least one second slave mask; and
bridge a communication between the at least one master and at least one of the one or more second auxiliary slaves not masked by the at least one second slave mask.

7 . The hybrid bus apparatus of claim 6 wherein the at least one selected USID is identical to the at least one selected second USID.

8 . The hybrid bus apparatus of claim 7 wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
block the communication between the at least one master and the at least one selected auxiliary slave and bridge the communication between the at least one master and the at least one selected second auxiliary slave in response to the at least one selected auxiliary slave being masked by the at least one slave mask and the at least one selected second auxiliary slave not being masked by the at least one second slave mask; and
bridge the communication between the at least one master and the at least one selected auxiliary slave and block the communication between the at least one master and the at least one selected second auxiliary slave in response to the at least one selected auxiliary slave not being masked by the at least one slave mask and the at least one selected second auxiliary slave being masked by the at least one second slave mask.

9 . The hybrid bus apparatus of claim 6 wherein the at least one selected USID is different from the at least one selected second USID.

10 . The hybrid bus apparatus of claim 9 wherein the at least one master is configured to communicate with one or more primary slaves on the at least one primary bus based on one or more of the at least one selected USID and the at least one selected second USID.

11 . The hybrid bus apparatus of claim 6 further comprising at least one second master, wherein:
the hybrid bus bridge circuit further comprises at least one second primary port coupled to the at least one second master via at least one second primary bus;
the register circuit further comprises:
at least one third slave mask corresponding to the at least one second master and the at least one auxiliary bus and configured to mask at least one second selected auxiliary slave among the one or more auxiliary slaves; and
at least one fourth slave mask corresponding to the at least one second master and the at least one second auxiliary bus and configured to mask at least one second selected second auxiliary slave among the one or more second auxiliary slaves; and

the control circuit is further configured to:
block a communication between the at least one second master and the at least one second selected auxiliary slave based on the at least one third slave mask; and
block a communication between the at least one second master and the at least one second selected second auxiliary slave based on the at least one fourth slave mask.

12 . The hybrid bus apparatus of claim 5 wherein:
the at least one slave mask comprises at least one bitmap configured to mask the at least one selected auxiliary slave; and
the at least one second slave mask comprises at least one second bitmap configured to mask the at least one selected second auxiliary slave.

13 . The hybrid bus apparatus of claim 5 wherein:
the at least one slave mask comprises at least one USID entry configured to identify the at least one selected auxiliary slave; and
the at least one second slave mask comprises at least one second USID entry configured to identify the at least one selected second auxiliary slave.

14 . A hybrid bus bridge circuit comprising:
at least one primary port coupled to at least one master via at least one primary bus; at least one auxiliary port coupled to one or more auxiliary slaves via at least one auxiliary bus; a register circuit comprising at least one slave mask corresponding to the at least one master and the at least one auxiliary bus, the at least one slave mask configured to mask at least one selected auxiliary slave among the one or more auxiliary slaves corresponding to at least one selected unique slave identification (USID) among one or more USIDs; and a control circuit configured to block a communication between the at least one master and the at least one selected auxiliary slave based on the at least one slave mask.

15 . The hybrid bus bridge circuit of claim 14 wherein the control circuit is further configured to bridge a communication between the at least one master and at least one of the one or more auxiliary slaves not masked by the at least one slave mask.

16 . The hybrid bus bridge circuit of claim 14 further comprising at least one second auxiliary port coupled to one or more second auxiliary slaves corresponding to one or more second USIDs, respectively, via at least one second auxiliary bus that is identical to the at least one auxiliary bus.

17 . The hybrid bus bridge circuit of claim 16 wherein the register circuit further comprises at least one second slave mask corresponding to the at least one master and the at least one second auxiliary bus and configured to mask at least one selected second auxiliary slave among the one or more second au

Assignees

• Qorvo Us Inc

Inventors

• Ngo Christopher Truong
• Hietala Alexander Wayne

Classifications

• G06F13/4027 Primary

  using bus bridges (G06F13/4022 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F13/362 Primary

  with centralised access control · CPC title