Adaptive communication interface

摘要

Embodiments of the invention include a communication interface and protocol for allowing communication between devices, circuits, integrated circuits and similar electronic components having different communication capacities or clock domains. The interface supports communication between any components having any difference in capacity and over any distance. The interface utilizes request and acknowledge phases and signals and an initiator-target relationship between components that allow each side to throttle the communication rate to an accepted level for each component or achieve a desired bit error rate.

主权项

1. A system comprising:
a communication medium; an initiator device coupled to the communication medium to generate a request signal on a request line to initiate a transfer of data over the communication medium; and a target device coupled to the communication medium to generate an acknowledgement signal to throttle a communication rate over the communication medium, the throttling of the communication rate includes the initiator device to initiate a read or write in response to a first delayed version of the acknowledgment signal and to end the read or a write in response to a second delayed version of the acknowledgement signal, the first delayed version of the acknowledgement signal corresponding to a time of delay to accommodate at least one of skew and distortion on an acknowledgement line or on the communication medium.