Open-drain repeater with edge accelerator for i2c application

A bus repeater comprising one or more repeating units, wherein at least one of the repeating units comprises:

• an A-side terminal configured to be electrically connected to an A-side open-drain bus line;
• and
• a B-side terminal configured to be electrically connected to a B-side open-drain bus line,
• wherein the repeating unit is operable in a first mode in which the repeating unit is configured to receive a signal at the A-side terminal and to produce a signal at the B-side terminal based on the signal received at the A-side terminal;
• the repeating unit further comprising:
• a B-side rise time accelerator element electrically connected to the B-side terminal;
• and
• a controller unit,
• wherein the controller unit is configured to, when the repeating unit is operating in the first mode, control the B-side rise time accelerator element to pull up a voltage at the B-side terminal when the voltage at the A-side terminal surpasses a first threshold voltage during a rising edge of the voltage, and to subsequently control the B-side rise time accelerator element to stop pulling up the voltage at the B-side terminal when the voltage at the B-side terminal surpasses a second threshold voltage, and
• wherein the controller unit is further configured to disable the B-side rise time accelerator element when sending or receiving a handshake bit.

A system comprising:

• a bus repeater;
• a first communication unit;
• a second communication unit;
• an A-side terminal of a first repeating unit connected to a data pin of the first communication unit via a first bus line;
• a B-side terminal of the first repeating unit connected to a data pin of the second communication unit via a second bus line;
• an A-side terminal of a second repeating unit connected to a clock pin of the first communication unit via a third bus line;
• and
• a B-side terminal of the second repeating unit connected to a clock pin of the second communication unit via a fourth bus line.

A method of transmitting a handshake in an inter-integrated circuit, I2C, based communication in a repeating unit, the repeating unit comprising an A-side terminal acting as Master and a B-side terminal acting a Slave, the method comprising:

• determining that a handshake is to be performed from Master to Slave, and if this has been determined:
• blocking communication from Master to Slave;
• and
• blocking edge acceleration of signals on the A-side terminal and the B-side terminal of the repeating unit.