A method, system, and apparatus for fault detection in a microprocessor-based system uses a serial data communication protocol for communications between a peripheral device and a controller. Peripheral device interface circuitry is adapted to intermittently receive input serial data frames from the controller using the serial communication protocol and to intermittently send output serial data frames to the controller using the serial communication protocol. Each output serial data frame includes one or more status bits representing communication status data and one or more data bits representing peripheral device data. The status bits and the data bits are serially followed by at least one fault bit that indicates whether a fault is detected during sending of the output serial data frame.

A system timer bus used by the processor elements in an ARM-based system on a chip (SoC) is driven using a Precision Time Measurement (PTM) value. This allows the processor elements to be synchronized to the PCIe ports that use PTM. When two SoCs are connected using PCIe links, this example allows the processor elements in both SoCs to be synchronized. As the processor elements are synchronized, associated tasks on the two SoCs are synchronized, so that overall operations are synchronized.

A programmable serial input-output controller is provided. A timer circuit performs a timing operation. An input pin is configured to receive an input signal from an external circuit. An output pin is configured to provide an output signal to the external circuit. In an output mode, the sequence controller provides an initial level to the output pin and controls the timer circuit to perform the timing operation. In response to a duration of the timer circuit performing the timing operation reaching first transmission time, the sequence controller inverts the level of the output pin and controls the timer circuit to re-perform the timing operation. In response to the duration of the timer circuit re-performing the timing operation reaching second transmission time, the sequence controller inverts the level of the output pin.

An adaptive serial general-purpose input output (ASGPIO) interface and a signal receiver thereof suitable for a secure control module (SCM) are provided. The ASGPIO interface includes a signal transmitter. The signal transmitter includes a first data buffer, a comparator, and an encoder. The first data buffer receives transmitted data and provides previously transmitted data. The comparator receives currently transmitted data and receives the previously transmitted data. In a first mode, the comparator compares the previously transmitted data with the currently transmitted data to generate a data variation information. The encoder, in the first mode, generates at least one index value and a corresponding instruction signal according to the data variation information. The signal transmitter sends the at least one index value as a serial signal and the instruction signal to a signal receiver.

A system for serial communication includes a controller, a semiconductor package comprising a plurality of semiconductor die, and a serial interface configured to connect the plurality of semiconductor die to the controller. The serial interface includes a controller-to-package connection and a package-to-controller connection, and the serial interface is configured to employ a signaling protocol using differential data signaling with no separate clock signals.

In view of defects in the prior art, the present disclosure provides a controller in a high-speed serial peripheral interface (SPI) master mode, where clock signals are provided by a phase locked loop (PLL), and the entire controller includes: a low-speed clock domain and a high-speed clock domain, where the PLL provides two main clock signals by different clock frequency dividers, provides a low-speed clock signal to the low-speed clock domain, and provides a high-speed source clock signal to the high-speed clock domain. By such technical solutions in the present disclosure, functions of different clock domains are divided through asynchronization of a high-speed SPI controller, and the function of a high-speed SPI flash access is implemented, thereby saving a read/write time. Especially in an application scenario of an SPI flash boot, the controller can greatly optimize a startup time.

According to an embodiment, a shift register parallelizes a serial data signal serving to transfer data including multiple symbols on the basis of a first clock. A first circuit generates, on the basis of the first clock, a second clock being a clock signal for transferring a parallel data signal having a width of the first number of bits. A first flip-flop group sequentially fetches data of the first number of bits from the serial data signals parallelized by the shift register on the basis of the second clock. The first flip-flop group then outputs the fetched data of the first number of bits as a parallel data signal. A second circuit adjusts a phase of the second clock such that the first flip-flop group fetches data of the first number of bits beginning with bit data located at a head of each symbol of the multiple symbols.

Systems and methods for chip operation using serial peripheral interface (SPI) without a chip select pin are disclosed. A communication link between a host and a device may include a clock line, a host to device line, and a device to host line. The host may signal a start or stop condition using the clock line and the device may send an acknowledgment of the host's signaling through the device to host line. Once acknowledgment is made, the host may then signal on the host to device line using a protocol such as SPI.

Systems and methods for chip operation using serial peripheral interface (SPI) with reduced pin options contemplate eliminating the chip select pins, interrupt pins and/or reset pins for host (also referred to as master)-to-device (also referred to as slave) communication links, while preserving the possibility of backward compatibility for legacy devices if desired. The communication link may include a clock line, a host-to-device line, and a device-to-host line. The host may use specific sequences of signals on the clock and host-to-device line to provide start and stop sequence commands, interrupts, or reset commands. By consolidating these commands onto the clock and host-to-device line, pin count may be reduced for portions of the host and slave circuits. Likewise, fewer (or at least shorter potentially) conductive traces may be needed to interconnect the host to the device. Such changes may save cost, make layout design easier, and/or save space within a computing device.

A bus arbitration circuit includes a first bus port, a second bus port, a first output circuit connected to the first bus port, a second output circuit connected to the second bus port, a control circuit, and a switch circuit. The control circuit includes a first input port, a second input port, a control signal output port, and an output port. The first input port receives data of the first bus port, the second input port receives data of the second bus port, and data is outputted from the output port to an input port of the first output circuit. The switch circuit has an input port connected to the first bus port, a control port connected to the control signal output port of the control circuit, and an output port from which data of a host bus is outputted to an input port of the second output circuit.