Communication system, communication system control method, and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9916271-B2
Application number	US-201715623230-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 14, 2017
Priority date	Oct 1, 2015
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 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 master device comprising:
a communication circuitry configured to sequentially transmit a start bit and predetermined pattern data, the start bit indicating a communication start, the predetermined pattern data including a first bit,
wherein a slave device separate from the master device has 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; and
an arbitration circuitry configured to arbitrate the slave device based on a first bit value,
wherein, when the first bit value is different from the first bit of the predetermined pattern data in the arbitration by the arbitration circuitry, it is determined that an event for which arbitration is necessary has occurred, and
wherein the communication circuitry transmits an acknowledgment, and then transmits and receives data or performs a processing of data when the master device is able to accept the event, and ends a communication process without the acknowledgment when the master device is unable to accept the event.

2. The master device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the communication circuitry transmits a restart condition indicating communication restart when the communication circuitry receives the acknowledgment after the start bit and the predetermined pattern data are sequentially transmitted.

3. The master 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 master device according to claim 1 , wherein the address is a dynamically assigned address that is transmitted following transmission of the predetermined pattern data.

5. The master device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the master device is configured to receive from the slave device the address wherein the first bit of the address indicates the inclusion or non-inclusion in the group for which arbitration is necessary.

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

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

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

9. A master device comprising:
a communication circuitry configured to sequentially transmit a start bit and predetermined pattern data, the start bit indicating a communication start, the predetermined pattern data including a first bit,
wherein a slave device separate from the master device has 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;
an arbitration circuitry configured to arbitrate the slave device based on a first bit value; and
address allocation circuitry configured to allocate as the address of the slave device 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.

10. A master device comprising:
a communication circuitry configured to sequentially transmit a start bit and predetermined pattern data, the start bit indicating a communication start, the predetermined pattern data including a first bit,
wherein a slave device separate from the master device has 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 and
an arbitration circuitry configured to arbitrate the slave device based on a first bit value,
wherein the communication circuitry is configured to transmit the predetermined pattern data in an open drain circuit mode.

11. A master device comprising:
a communication circuitry configured to sequentially transmit a start bit and predetermined pattern data, the start bit indicating a communication start, the predetermined pattern data including a first bit,
wherein a slave device separate from the master device has 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;
an arbitration circuitry configured to arbitrate the slave device based on a first bit value; and
address allocation circuitry configured to perform a dynamic addressing wherein the first bit of the predetermined pattern data is set to a predetermined value, and
wherein the arbitration circuitry is configured to perform arbitration by determining collision according to the first bit value where the master device receives from the slave device the address, with the first bit of the address having the first bit value differing from the predetermined value.

12. The master device according to claim 11 ,
wherein the communication circuitry is configured to transmit in a push-pull mode in an absence of determining collision.

13. The master device according to claim 11 ,
wherein the master device is configured to receive an acknowledgement from the slave device following transmission of an assigned address to the slave device by the master device.

14. A method for performing arbitration, the method comprising:
sequentially transmitting, by a master device, a start bit and predetermined pattern data, the start bit indicating a communication start, the predetermined pattern data including a first bit,
wherein a slave device has 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; and
performing an arbitration of the slave device based on a first bit value,
wherein it is determined that an event for which arbitration is necessary has occurred when the first bit value is different from the first bit of the predetermined pattern data in the arbitration;
transmitting an acknowledgment, and then transmitting and receiving data or performing a processing of data when the master device is able to accept the event; and
ending a communication process without the acknowledgment when the master device is unable to accept the event.

15. The method according claim 14 , wherein the event includes at least one of an in-band interrupt request, a secondary master request, or a peer to peer slave request.

16. The method according to claim 14 ,
wherein the address is a dynamically assigned address that is transmitted following transmission of the predetermined pattern data.

17. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising:
transmitting a remainder of the predetermined pattern data in an open drain circuit mode when it is determined that the event for which arbitration is necessary has occurred.

18. The method according to claim 17 , further comprising:
transmitting a remainder of the predetermined pattern data in a push-pull circuit mode when it is determined that the event for which arbitration is necess

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Takahashi Hiroo
• Koshisaka Naohiro
• Lee Sonfun

Classifications

• G06F13/362

  with centralised access control · CPC title

• G06F13/4282

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

• G06F13/364 Primary

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

• G06F13/404

  with address mapping · CPC title

• G06F2213/0052

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