Deskew in a high speed link
AssigneeInphi Corporation
InventorsMarcel Louis LUGTHART, Jeffrey ZACHAN, Linghsiao Jerry WANG
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for high speed communications are described herein. In certain aspects, the systems and methods include innovative transceiver architectures and techniques for re-timing, multiplexing, de-multiplexing and transmitting data. The systems and methods can be used to achieve reliable high-speed point-to-point communication between different electronic devices, computing devices, storage devices and peripheral devices.
Claims20
A transceiver integrated circuit (IC) for a communication system, wherein the transceiver IC comprises:
- a differential transmitter configured to generate a differential signal for transmission via an external cable, wherein the differential transmitter comprises:
- a first transmitter configured to generate a non-inverted component of the differential signal, wherein the first transmitter is configured to receive a first data signal and a first clock signal that controls timing of transmissions of the first transmitter;
- and
- a second transmitter configured to generate an inverted component of the differential signal, wherein the second transmitter is configured to receive a second data signal and a second clock signal that controls timing of transmissions of the second transmitter;
- and
- a skew adjustment circuit configured to provide a first amount of skew adjustment to the differential transmitter by adjusting a relative delay between the first data signal and the second data signal, and to provide a second amount of skew adjustment to the differential transmitter by adjusting a relative delay between the first clock signal and the second clock signal.
A communication system comprising:
- a cable;
- and
- a first IC comprising:
- a differential transmitter configured to transmit a differential signal over the cable, wherein the differential transmitter comprises a first transmitter configured to generate a non-inverted component of the differential signal and a second transmitter configured to generate an inverted component of the differential signal, wherein the first transmitter is configured to receive a first data signal and a first clock signal that controls timing of transmissions of the first transmitter, and wherein the second transmitter is configured to receive a second data signal and a second clock signal that controls timing of transmissions of the second transmitter;
- and
- a skew adjustment circuit configured to provide a first amount of skew adjustment to the differential transmitter by adjusting a relative delay between the first data signal and the second data signal, and to provide a second amount of skew adjustment to the differential transmitter by adjusting a relative delay between the first clock signal and the second clock signal.
A method of skew correction in a communication system, the method comprising:
- transmitting a non-inverted component of a differential signal over a cable using a first transmitter of a differential transmitter;
- transmitting an inverted component of the differential signal over the cable using a second transmitter of the differential transmitter;
- providing a first amount of skew adjustment to the differential transmitter by adjusting a relative delay between a first data signal inputted to the first transmitter and a second data signal inputted to the second transmitter;
- and
- providing a second amount of skew adjustment to the differential transmitter by adjusting a relative delay between a first clock signal for timing transmissions of the first transmitter and a second clock signal for timing transmissions of the second transmitter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.