Apparatus, system, and method for resetting an inter-integrated circuit data line using a negative voltage

A system to reset an inter-integrated circuit (I2C) bus slave, the system:

• comprising:
• an I2C bus master configured to communicate over a data line and a clock line and comprising
• a hang detection module configured to detect a hung line selected from the data line and the clock line;
• a negative voltage generator configured to drive the data line to a specified negative voltage for a specified time interval in response to the detected hung line;
• a clamping diode configured to limit the specified negative voltage to greater than a specified limit;
• the I2C bus slave configured to communicate with the I2C bus master over the data line and the clock line and comprising
• a voltage detector module configured to detect the specified negative voltage on the data line;
• a timer module configured to detect the specified time H interval of the specified negative voltage;
• and
• a reset module configured to reset the I2C bus slave in response to the timer module detecting the specified interval of the specified negative voltage.