摘要 |
A serial communication system includes a receiver that incorporates an amplitude monitor, which may be used to set and maintain appropriate termination-resistance values and transmit pre-emphasis and receive equalization settings. The amplitude monitor can note the presence or absence of input signals, as is required by some communication standards, such as those that require support for “out-of-band” (OOB) signaling for e.g. rate negotiation. The amplitude monitor compares the input signal with a reference level in response to a sample clock. The sample clock is periodically phase shifted with respect to the incoming data so the amplitude monitor is sure to sample an incoming data eye at or near the peak amplitude over a selected sample period. The amplitude detector notes the detection of an input signal if the input signal surpasses the reference level for any sample phase. The amplitude monitor experiments with different sample-clock phases over a number of data symbols, but is capable of measuring amplitude fast enough to resolve amplitude-based signals used for rate negotiation. |