ASYMMETRIC COMMUNICATION ON SHARED LINKS

摘要

Embodiments of a system that communicates bidirectional data between two devices via shared links is described. In this system, data is transmitted on the shared links by one of the devices using single-ended drivers, and corresponding symbols are received on the shared links by the other device using differential comparison circuits. The data may be encoded as a series of parallel codewords prior to transmission. Each shared link may communicate a respective symbol in each codeword, which can have one of two possible logical values (e.g., a logic 0 or a logic 1). The corresponding symbols received by the other device may comprise a parallel symbol set, and each of the differential comparison circuits may compare symbols received on pairs of the shared links. A decoder in the other device may decode a respective parallel symbol set from the outputs of the differential comparison circuits to recover the encoded data.