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US 7,117,292 B2Granted
Apparatus and method to switch a FIFO between strobe sources
AssigneeBroadcom Corporation
InventorJames D. Kelly
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A first-in, first-out (FIFO) unit switches between strobe sources. The FIFO uses a multiplexer to switch between two or more strobes so that different data strobes may be used with the FIFO to strobe in the data. In one implementation, the FIFO uses four data latches to strobe in data bits and output a pair of data bits onto the internal bus each half clock cycle.
Claims18
An apparatus comprising:
- a first-in, first-out buffer (FIFO) to strobe in data from a data source based on at least a first strobe signal or a second strobe signal, the data to be buffered for transfer onto a data bus having different timing than the first or second strobe rate, the strobe signals based on a bit transfer rate per strobe of the data source which is to be used to transfer the data to the FIFO, wherein the FIFO includes latches to latch in the data and output pairs of bits based on the timing of the data bus;
- and
- a select circuit to select between the strobe signals, including the first strobe signal and the second strobe signal, depending on the bit transfer rate per strobe of the data source, the first strobe signal to be selected when the data source has a first bit transfer rate per strobe and the second strobe to be selected when the data source has a second bit transfer rate per strobe.
An integrated circuit comprising:
- an interim first-in, first-out buffer (FIFO) to strobe in data from a memory based on a first strobe signal or a second strobe signal, the strobe signals based on a bit transfer rate per strobe of the memory which is to be used to transfer the data to the FIFO;
- and
- a select circuit to select between the first strobe signal and the second strobe signal depending on the bit transfer rate per strobe of the memory, the first strobe signal to be selected when the memory has a first bit transfer rate per strobe and the second strobe to be selected when the memory has a second bit transfer rate per strobe.
A method comprising:
- generating a plurality of strobes to accommodate data sources that have different bit transfer rates per strobe, in order to transfer data to a buffer at a bit transfer rate of a particular data source which is coupled to the buffer for data transfer;
- selecting one strobe from the plurality of strobes to allow data transfer from the particular data source to the buffer at a bit transfer rate of the particular data source;
- and
- receiving incoming data from the particular data source using the selected one strobe to receive the incoming data at the bit transfer rate of the particular data source.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.