Data transfer method and apparatus for communication between a peripheral and a master

A method of transferring data from a radiotelephone peripheral to a radiotelephone unit via a time multiplexed data bus, comprising the steps of:

• (a) generating data representative of priority in response to a busy condition on the bus when the radiotelephone peripheral is powered up;
• (b) accepting a plurality of data bits;
• and
• (c) assembling said data representative of priority and said accepted data bits for transmission of an assembled field in one time slot on the time multiplexed data bus.

A data transfer apparatus for use in a radiotelephone unit, comprising:

• means for receiving a message in one time slot on a time multiplexed data bus, including a contention determining field and a plurality of data bits;
• means for extracting data representative of priority determined in response to a busy condition on the bus upon power up of the radiotelephone unit from said contention determining field;
• means for determining whether said message is a digitized analog message or a data message;
• and
• means, responsive to a determination that said message is a data message, for routing at least a portion of said message based on said contention determining field.

A method of transferring data in a radiotelephone unit from a radiotelephone peripheral to a master unit, comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving a message in one time slot on a time multiplexed data bus, said message including a contention determining field and a plurality of data bits;
• (b) extracting data representative of priority determined in response to a busy condition on the bus upon power up of the radiotelephone unit from said contention determining field;
• (c) determining whether said message is a digitized analog message or a data message;
• and
• (d) routing, in response to a determination that said message is a data message, at least a portion of said message based on said contention determining field.

A data transfer apparatus for a radiotelephone peripheral device, the data transfer apparatus having the capability of resolving data bus contention with a second data transfer apparatus on the data bus by allocating time slots on the data bus to the peripheral device, comprising:

• means for retrieving peripheral apparatus information from an information storage device in the radiotelephone peripheral device,
• means for generating a contention determining data field from said peripheral apparatus information, the contention determining data field to be transmitted within a plurality of data bits,
• means for transferring said contention determining data field to a field storage device within the data transfer apparatus,
• means for determining bus access for the data bus by comparing at least one bit of said contention determining data field with at least one equivalent bit from the second data transfer apparatus on the data bus,
• means for assigning a data bus peripheral apparatus address to the data transfer apparatus based on the outcome of said bus access determination,
• means for allocating a time slot for a radiotelephone peripheral device in response to said bus access,
• means for allocating unique time slots on the data bus to each radiotelephone peripheral device's data transfer apparatus for voice information,
• means for prioritizing between at least two radiotelephone peripheral devices when multiple radiotelephone peripheral devices are allowed to access a particular time slot in a time multiplexed manner, further comprising:
• (a) means for time multiplexing peripheral devices not conveying voice information over common time slots not allocated to radiotelephone peripheral devices for voice information, and
• (b) means for prioritizing radiotelephone peripheral devices over common time slots not allocated to radiotelephone peripheral devices for voice information.