Bi-directional amplifier and method for accelerated bus line communication

摘要

A circuit and method for accelerating bus line communication in an integrated circuit is disclosed. High speed transmission of signals along a bus line is achieved by driving a series of bus line segments with their own bi-directional bus amplification circuits. Because each bus line segment has less capacitive loading than longer non-segmented bus lines, voltage reversal, or data inversion of a pair of complementary lines of a bus line segment is accomplished at high speed. Each bi-directional bus amplification circuit includes a precharge circuit for precharging each complementary pair of lines to known logic levels, and a drive circuit for changing the logic level of each line. The bi-directional bus amplification circuit of the present invention logically connects two lines to each other while actively amplifying the signal in either direction without prior knowledge of which direction the signal must be driven, and without additional control overhead than that required for a conventional precharged bus line.