| 摘要 |
The present invention provides a method and apparatus to save area of an IC. Included in the present invention is a method of transmitting an signal over a single interconnect between functional blocks of the IC. The method includes generating a scaled or encoded signal responsive to a first digital signal by summing currents responsive to the first control signal. The summed currents, which may be the sum of one or more currents, is the scaled signal. The encoded signal is transmitted over a single interconnect. This transmission occurs in one clock period in contrast to the at least two clock periods required to serially transmit data. The encoded signal is then used to generate a second digital signal. The generation of the second digital signal preferably includes mirroring the current of the encoded signal. The mirrored current is can then generate one or more separate voltages which are used to generate the second digital signal. The method of the present invention is preferably accomplished by an interface that includes two converters and a single interconnect there between. The first converter uses at least two parallel transistors that are responsively controlled by the first digital signal to create at least one current. The transistors are either sized in increments of one or powers of two relative to each other. The at least one current is summed to generate the encoded signal. The encoded signal is provided preferably as a current available on the interconnect. The second converter mirrors the current of the encoded signal to produce at least two node voltages. The second converter preferably includes a mirror circuit coupled to a load to form at least two nodes there between. The mirrored current through the load produces a voltage at each node. Each node is coupled preferably to a buffer that detects whether the node voltage is in a high or low state. Each buffer preferably includes hysteresis to unwanted voltage noise. |
