Age selection switching scheme for data traffic in a crossbar switch
Granted: September 25, 2007
Patent Number:
7274690
A content addressable merged queue (camQ) architecture for high-speed switch fabrics reduces the memory requirement for crossbar switch input and output queues using memory cells and age tag comparators. CamQ emulates VOQ FIFO for each supporting priority, eliminating HOL blocking. Multiple QoS levels are supported cost effectively at higher traffic bandwidth limits. Content addressable memory (CAM) cells store payload destinations, which can be addressed by cell priorities. Once a…
Cable with circuitry for asserting stored cable data or other information to an external device or user
Granted: September 11, 2007
Patent Number:
7269673
A cable including circuitry for asserting information to a user or external device and a system including such a cable. The cable can include conductors, a memory storing cable data, and circuitry configured to respond to a request received on at least one of the conductors by accessing at least some of the cable data and asserting the accessed data serially to at least one of the conductors (e.g., for transmission to an external device). Other aspects of the invention are methods for…
Memory architecture with multiple serial communications ports
Granted: August 14, 2007
Patent Number:
7257129
A serial communications architecture for communicating between hosts and data store devices. The Storage Link architecture is specially adapted to support communications between multiple hosts and storage devices via a switching network, such as a storage area network. The Storage Link architecture specifies various communications techniques that can be combined to reduce the overall cost and increase the overall performance of communications. The Storage Link architecture may provide…
Method and system for reducing inter-symbol interference effects in transmission over a serial link with mapping of each word in a cluster of received words to a single transmitted word
Granted: August 14, 2007
Patent Number:
7257163
A system in which encoded data (e.g., encoded video and auxiliary data) are transmitted over a serial link. Other aspects of the invention are transmitters for use in encoding data for transmission over a serial link, receivers for receiving such data, and methods for sending encoded data over a serial link. Source data to be transmitted are encoded using a subset of a full set of code words. The subset consists of preferred code words. Disjoint clusters of code words in the full set are…
Method and system for encrypting and decrypting data using an external agent
Granted: July 10, 2007
Patent Number:
7242766
A communication system including a transmitter, a receiver, a communication link (for example, a TMDS-like link), and preferably also an external agent with which the transmitter and receiver can communicate, in which video data (or other data) are encrypted, the encrypted data are transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver, and the transmitted data are decrypted in the receiver, a transmitter and a receiver for use in such a system, a cipher engine for use in such a transmitter or…
Reduced dead-cycle, adaptive phase tracking method and apparatus
Granted: June 26, 2007
Patent Number:
7236553
A data sampling method and circuit employing an oversampling clock to oversample a data signal, a phase tracker for use with or in a data sampling circuit, and a method for identifying a sequence of best sampling positions for sampling a data signal from signal samples generated using an oversampling clock. In some embodiments, data indicative of the phase of at least one of the oversampling clock's sampling positions relative to the center of the data eye are low-pass filtered in a…
Data synchronization across an asynchronous boundary using, for example, multi-phase clocks
Granted: June 12, 2007
Patent Number:
7231009
Additional information on the phase of an external clock signal is obtained by using clock signals to determine if a phase difference between an external clock signal and a first internal sampling clock signal is less than a pre-selected value. If the system determines that the phase difference is less than a pre-selected value, one embodiment samples the incoming data with a second internal sampling clock signal, having a selected phase relationship to the first internal sampling clock…
Method and apparatus for a two-wire serial command bus interface
Granted: May 29, 2007
Patent Number:
7225282
A method for bi-directional transmission of data between a source and a sink over a two-wire interface includes re-mapping a data signal and a clock signal from a first local bus on the source into a different protocol signal. Transmitting the different protocol signal from the source to the sink over the two-wire interface. Re-mapping the different protocol signal back into the data signal and the clock signal for use on a second local bus on the sink. Re-mapping the data signal and the…
System and method for an adaptive state machine to control signal filtering in a serial link
Granted: May 15, 2007
Patent Number:
7218737
A method for adaptively filtering a control signal in a serial link includes monitoring for a blanking interval in a video stream having an associated clock signal and monitoring for an occurrence of a VSYNC signal once the blanking interval has started. A control signal is initially detected wherein the control signal occurs subsequent to the occurrence of the VSYNC signal. A set of properties of the control signal are recorded and a set of filter parameters are adjusted for detecting…
Digital video system and methods for providing same
Granted: May 8, 2007
Patent Number:
7215376
A digital image enhancer includes a deinterlacing processor receptive to an interlaced video stream. The deinterlacing processor includes a first deinterlacer and a second deinterlacer and provides a deinterlaced video stream. The digital image enhancer also includes a video output processor receptive to the output of the deinterlaced video stream to provide a scaled, deinterlaced video stream. A portable DVD player including the digital video enhancer has a generally thin prismatic…
Tracked 3X oversampling receiver
Granted: April 10, 2007
Patent Number:
7203260
A method of receiving data, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, includes the acts of generating a data sampling clock signal and comparing a received clock signal to the data sampling clock signal. The data sampling clock signal is used to sample a data signal into sampled data representing a first zone, a second zone, and a third zone of the data signal. It is then determined which zone of the sampled data has a transition of the data signal and indicating a…
Audio signal delay apparatus and method
Granted: April 10, 2007
Patent Number:
7203557
An apparatus for delaying an audio signal in conformance with the format of the audio signal. An input device is receptive to an audio signal having one of a plurality of formats. A processing device coupled to the input device is operable to provide a delay in the audio signal corresponding to the format of the audio signal. The delayed audio signal is output through an output device. An audio format detection circuit is operable to detect the number of edge transitions within a known…
Method and system for encapsulation of multiple levels of communication protocol functionality within line codes
Granted: March 6, 2007
Patent Number:
7187307
A communication system including two endpoints (transceivers or a transmitter and receiver) and a serial link between them. At least one endpoint is configured to generate encoded data in accordance with a line code and to transmit the encoded data over the link. The line code specifies a block code for encoding cells of application data and control bits, and typically also special characters that do not match bit sequences of encoded cells. Other aspects of the invention are methods for…
Method and system for arbitrating priority bids sent over serial links to a multi-port storage device
Granted: January 30, 2007
Patent Number:
7171525
A system including a multi-port storage device (e.g., a disk drive) and at least two users, each user coupled to a port of the storage device by a serial link. The storage device has an operational portion and an interface (including arbitration circuitry) between its ports and the operational portion. In response to a set of competing priority bids from the users, the arbitration circuitry grants one bid (including by sending an acknowledgement to the successful bidder) and preferably…
Combining a clock signal and a data signal
Granted: January 2, 2007
Patent Number:
7158593
A method of transmitting data in a system including at least one data channel and a separate clock channel is disclosed. The method involves combining a clock signal to be transmitted on the clock channel with a data signal to generate a combined clock and data signal. In one embodiment, the data signal has been generated from data words using an encoding scheme that shifts an energy spectrum of the data signal away from an energy spectrum of the clock signal. In another embodiment, the…
Method and system for nesting of communications packets
Granted: December 26, 2006
Patent Number:
7154905
A serial communications architecture for communicating between hosts and data store devices. The Storage Link architecture is specially adapted to support communications between multiple hosts and storage devices via a switching network, such as a storage area network. The Storage Link architecture specifies various communications techniques that can be combined to reduce the overall cost and increase the overall performance of communications. The Storage Link architecture may provide…
Auxiliary data transmitted within a display's serialized data stream
Granted: November 28, 2006
Patent Number:
7143328
Techniques to transmit auxiliary data are disclosed. One technique includes generating a control signal from a video data enable signal and an auxiliary data enable signal, and combining an auxiliary data signal and a video data signal into a composite data signal using the control signal. Techniques to receive the auxiliary data are also disclosed.
Cryptosystems using commuting pairs in a monoid
Granted: November 14, 2006
Patent Number:
7136484
Apparati, methods, and computer readable media for enabling two parties (1,2) to exchange encrypted messages, exchange symmetric cryptographic keys, and perform functions of public key cryptography. First and second key exchange algorithms use commuting pairs of subsets of a monoid. The first key exchange algorithm has four principal embodiments. In three of the embodiments, a set of matrices over a hyperbolic ring is used as the monoid. In the fourth embodiment, a braid group is used as…
Method and apparatus for encrypting data transmitted over a serial link
Granted: October 31, 2006
Patent Number:
7131004
A communication system including a transmitter, a receiver, and a serial link (for example, a TMDS-like link) in which video data (or other data) are encrypted, the encrypted data are transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver, and the transmitted data are decrypted in the receiver, a transmitter and a receiver for use in such systems, a cipher engine for use in such a transmitter or receiver, a method for operating such a transmitter or receiver to encrypt or decrypt data, and a…
Clock jitter limiting scheme in video transmission through multiple stages
Granted: October 17, 2006
Patent Number:
7123307
A scheme to reduce clock jitter is disclosed in applications where video content is transmitted through multiple stages, each having a switch allowing that stage's video stream to be selected. The video data is re-clocked using a new clock at each stage. Before re-clocked, the video data from the preceding stage is scaled into a constant resolution using a digital scaler. Since the downstream stages could re-clock the video as if it were sent at the same frequency, there is no need to…
