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US 5,694,427 AGranted
Pseudo-AUI line driver and receiver cells for ethernet applications
AssigneeAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc.
InventorJohn Michael Wincn
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A single-ended differential AUI line driver, and complementary single-ended differential AUI line receiver, implement a pseudo AUI that exhibits most of the characteristics of an IEEE 802.3 standard compatible AUI line driver. The pseudo AUI line driver permits multi-point to single point connection (wire-ORing) of multiple line drivers and receivers to support port mobility on a per-port basis.
Claims23
A single-ended attachment unit interface (AUI) driver, comprising:
- a first source follower, coupled to an output port and responsive to a first reference voltage, for clamping a magnitude of an output voltage at said output port from rising above about a first voltage level;
- a second source follower, coupled to said output port and responsive to a second reference voltage, for clamping said magnitude of said output voltage from falling below about a second voltage level;
- a pull-up driver, coupled to said output port and responsive to a data signal, for actively driving said output voltage to said first reference voltage when said data signal is asserted;
- and
- a pull-down driver, coupled to said output port and responsive to said data signal, for actively driving said output voltage to said second reference voltage when said data signal is deasserted.
2 more elements
A single-ended attachment unit interface (AUI) receiver, comprising:
- a differential amplifier having a first input coupled to an input port for receiving a single-ended data signal referenced to a particular voltage reference between a first voltage reference and a second voltage reference, and having a second input coupled to a reference voltage, for generating a differential data signal from said single-ended data signal;
- and
- a self-bias reference circuit, coupled to said second input and to said particular voltage reference, for generating said reference voltage from said particular voltage reference, wherein said self-bias reference circuit comprises:
- a first impedance coupled between said second input and said first voltage reference;
- and
- a second impedance coupled between said second input and said second voltage reference.
3 more elements
A data transmission system, comprising:
- a single-ended attachment unit interface (AUI) driver for driving a single-ended data signal at an output port, including:
- a first source follower, coupled to said output port and responsive to a first reference voltage, for clamping a magnitude of an output voltage at said output port from rising above about a first voltage level;
- a second source follower, coupled to said output port and responsive to a second reference voltage, for clamping said magnitude of said output voltage from falling below about a second voltage level;
- a pull-up driver, coupled to said output port and responsive to a data signal, for actively driving said output voltage to said first reference voltage when said data signal is asserted;
- and
- a pull-down driver, coupled to said output port and responsive to said data signal, for actively driving said output voltage to said second reference voltage when said data signal is deasserted;
- and
- a single-ended AUI receiver coupled to said single-ended AUI driver, including:
- a differential amplifier having a first input coupled to said output port for receiving said single-ended data signal referenced to a particular voltage reference between said first voltage reference and said second voltage reference, and having a second input coupled to a reference voltage, for generating a differential data signal from said single-ended data signal;
- and
- a self-bias reference circuit, coupled to said second input and to said particular voltage reference, for generating said reference voltage from said particular voltage reference.
8 more elements
A data transmission system, comprising:
- a single-ended attachment unit interface (AUI) driver for driving a single-ended data signal at an output port, including:
- a first source follower, coupled to said output port and responsive to a first reference voltage, for clamping a magnitude of an output voltage at said output port from rising above about a first voltage level;
- a second source follower, coupled to said output port and responsive to a second reference voltage, for clamping said magnitude of said output voltage from falling below about a second voltage level;
- a pull-up driver, coupled to said output port and responsive to a data signal, for actively driving said output voltage to said first reference voltage when said data signal is asserted;
- and
- a pull-down driver, coupled to said output port and responsive to said data signal, for actively driving said output voltage to said second reference voltage when said data signal is deasserted;
- and
- a single-ended AUI receiver coupled to said single-ended AUI driver, including:
- an amplifier having a first input coupled to said output port for receiving said single-ended data signal referenced to a particular voltage reference between said first voltage reference and said second voltage reference, and having a second input coupled to a reference voltage, for generating an output data signal from said single-ended data signal;
- and
- a self-bias reference circuit, coupled to said second input and to said particular voltage reference, for generating said reference voltage from said particular voltage reference.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.