A method for synchronous serial communication includes encoding, by a master device, a header field to be initially transmitted in a frame with a header identification code and a slave count value that defines a number of slave devices communicatively coupled to the master device. A plurality of address fields to be transmitted in the frame are also encoded by the master device. Each of the address fields corresponding to a different one the slave devices. A first of the address fields to be transmitted in the frame corresponds to a last of the slave devices to receive the header field, and a last of the address fields to be transmitted in the frame corresponds to a first of the slave devices to receive the header field. The frame is transmitted to the slave devices by the master device.

A data loading system includes a processing circuit, a nonvolatile memory, and a programmable logic device. The processing circuit and the programmable logic device are separately coupled to different data interfaces of the nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile memory stores start code of the processing circuit and configuration data of the programmable logic device, and the processing circuit and the programmable logic device are configured to respectively obtain the start code and the configuration data from the nonvolatile memory at the same time under the action of a first synchronization clock. Hence, the system increases a speed and reliability of data loading and increases a start speed and reliability of a board.

A sequential asynchronous system and a method for operating the same. The method includes operating a first asynchronous finite state machine at a first clock rate and operating a second asynchronous finite state machine at a second clock rate. The method also includes generating, with fork logic, a fork request based on a first state of the first asynchronous finite state machine and receiving, with join logic, the fork request from the fork logic. The method further includes receiving, with the join logic, a communication request from the second asynchronous finite state machine based on a second state of the second asynchronous finite state machine and initiating, with the join logic, a state transition of the second asynchronous finite state machine. The method also includes providing, with the join logic, a join acknowledgement to the fork logic upon completion of the state transition.

An apparatus is provided which comprises: an input/output (I/O) port; an adaptor; a physical layer to interface between the I/O port and the adaptor; a first controller associated with a first type of communication; and a second controller associated with a second type of communication, wherein the adaptor is to selectively couple the I/O port, via the physical layer, to one of the first controller or the second controller, based at least in part on a type of device coupled to the I/O port.

A communication interface circuit has a deserializer configured to convert a serial stream of 3-bit symbols received from a three-wire serial bus to a parallel multi-symbol word comprising a plurality of symbols ordered in accordance with time of arrival at an input of the deserializer, detection circuits configured to determine whether a pattern of symbols in the parallel multi-symbol word indicates a corrupt data packet, and a finite state machine configured to activate one or more flags responsive to feedback received from the detection circuits. each flag can be configured to cause termination of reception of the corrupt data packet when the each flag is active.

A multi-sensing system (20) includes multiple sensor units (28) that include respective sensors (44), (ii) are connected to one another in a cascade using serial data lines (32), and (iii) are connected to a common clock line (36) and to a common alignment line (40). The sensor units are configured to selectably communicate in accordance with first and second different serial communication protocols using the same serial data lines, clock line and alignment line. A host (24) is configured to communicate with the sensor units, including reading the sensors and instructing the sensor units to switch between the first and second serial communication protocols.

An apparatus is provided which comprises: an input/output (I/O) port; an adaptor; a physical layer to interface between the I/O port and the adaptor; a first controller associated with a first type of communication; and a second controller associated with a second type of communication, wherein the adaptor is to selectively couple the I/O port, via the physical layer, to one of the first controller or the second controller, based at least in part on a type of device coupled to the I/O port.

The present disclosure discloses a memory access interface device. A clock generation circuit generates reference clock signals. Each of access signal transmission circuits each includes a duty cycle adjusting circuit, a duty cycle detection circuit, a frequency division circuit and an asynchronous first-in-first-out circuit. The duty cycle adjusting circuit performs duty cycle adjustment on one of the reference clock signals according to a duty cycle detection signal to generate an output clock signal having a duty cycle. The duty cycle detection circuit detects a variation of the duty cycle to generate the duty cycle detection signal. The frequency division circuit divides a frequency of the output clock signal to generate a read clock signal. The asynchronous first-in-first-out circuit receives an access signal from a memory access controller and outputs an output access signal according to the read clock signal to access the memory device accordingly.

Circuits, methods, and apparatus that may reduce the number of connector receptacles that are needed on an electronic device. One example may provide a unified connector and circuitry that may be capable of communicating with more than one interface.

A method for managing a multi-lane serial link is described. The method includes establishing a serial link between a number of integrated circuits across a first number of lanes. The first number of lanes are a subset of a number of available lanes on the serial link. The method also includes selecting to change a transmission state of a second number of lanes. The second number of lanes are a subset of the available lanes. The method also includes changing the transmission state of the second number of lanes while transmitting data on a number of remaining lanes. The method further includes synchronizing the first number of lanes and the second number of lanes.