Method of communication with improved acknowledgment of reception

A machine-readable medium encoded with a program for communicating between a transmitting unit and a receiving unit over a synchronous serial link, the transmitting unit being a master unit and the receiving unit being a slave unit, said program containing instructions for performing the steps of:

• transmitting a message formed by elementary messages from the transmitting master unit to the receiving slave unit over the synchronous serial link, each of the elementary messages including a useful information word;
• establishing a time gap composed of a plurality of elementary temporal units after each elementary message is transmitted by the transmitting master unit, the transmitting master unit not transmitting over the synchronous serial link during the time gap;
• and
• during the time gap, receiving an acknowledgment word from the receiving slave unit, the acknowledgment word being received by the transmitting master unit via the synchronous serial link,
• wherein the acknowledgment word includes at least one reception bit, the at least one reception bit being selectively positioned at one of the elementary temporal units of the time gap, and
• the transmitting master unit determines the elementary message that is to be transmitted next based at least partially on at which elementary temporal unit of the time gap the received at least one reception bit is positioned.

A receiving device for receiving messages from a transmitting device over a synchronous serial link, the receiving device being a slave device and the transmitting device being a master device, said receiving device comprising:

• an interface for receiving a transmitted message from the transmitting master device via the synchronous serial link, the message being formed by elementary messages that each include at least one check bit;
• means for analyzing a received elementary message to determine if the received elementary message was properly received based on the value of the check bit;
• and
• a transmitter for transmitting, during a time gap composed of a plurality of elementary temporal units after an elementary message is transmitted by the transmitting master device, an acknowledgment word to the transmitting master device over the synchronous serial link,
• wherein the acknowledgment word includes at least one reception bit, the at least one reception bit being selectively positioned at one of the elementary temporal units of the time gap, and
• the elementary temporal unit of the time gap at which the at least one reception bit is positioned is a function of the elementary message that is to be transmitted next by the transmitting master device.

A method for communicating between a transmitting unit and a receiving unit over a synchronous serial link, the transmitting unit being a master unit and the receiving unit being a slave unit, said method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a message from the transmitting master unit at the receiving slave unit via the synchronous serial link, the message being formed by elementary messages that each include a useful information word;
• during a time gap composed of a plurality of elementary temporal units after an elementary message is transmitted by the transmitting master unit, transmitting an acknowledgment word from the receiving slave unit to the transmitting master unit over the synchronous serial link,
• wherein the acknowledgment word includes at least one reception bit, the at least one reception bit being selectively positioned at one of the elementary temporal units of the time gap, and
• the elementary temporal unit of the time gap at which the at least one reception bit is positioned is a function of the elementary message that is to be transmitted next by the transmitting master unit.

A transmitting device for transmitting messages to a receiving device over a synchronous serial link, the transmitting device being a master device and the receiving device being a slave device, said transmitting master device comprising:

• a transmitter for transmitting a message to the receiving slave device over the synchronous serial link, the message being formed by elementary messages that each include at least one check bit;
• means for establishing a time gap composed of a plurality of elementary temporal units after each elementary message is transmitted, the transmitter not transmitting over the synchronous serial link during the time gap;
• and
• an interface for receiving, during the time gap, an acknowledgment word from the receiving slave device via the synchronous serial link,
• wherein the acknowledgment word includes at least one reception bit, the at least one reception bit being selectively positioned at one of the elementary temporal units of the time gap, and
• the transmitting master device determines the elementary message that is to be transmitted next based at least partially on at which elementary temporal unit of the time gap the received at least one reception bit is positioned.