Interface for bridging out-of-band information and preventing false presence detection of terminating devices
AssigneeRambus Inc.
InventorMichael J. Sobelman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A device includes a first interface to receive a signal from a first communication link, wherein the receive signal includes out-of-band (OOB) information. A detector coupled to the first interface detects the OOB information. An encoder coupled to the detector encodes the OOB information into one or more symbols (e.g., control characters). A second interface is coupled to the encoder and a second communication link (e.g., a serial transport path). The second interface transmits the symbols on the second communication link. The device also includes mechanisms for preventing false presence detection of terminating devices.
Claims30
A circuit, comprising:
- a first interface having an input that receives a signal including one or more multiple-bit symbols representing encoded out-of-band (OOB) information from a first communication link;
- a decoder coupled to the first interface that decodes the one or more multiple-bit symbols into reconstructed OOB information;
- and
- a second interface coupled to the decoder and having an output for transmitting the reconstructed OOB information to a second communication link.
A method of bridging out-of-band (OOB) information across a device, comprising:
- encoding OOB information, including:
- receiving a first signal from a first communication link, and
- if the first signal includes OOB information:
- identifying the OOB information,
- selecting a symbol representing the OOB information, and
- transmitting the symbol on a serial data communication link;
- and
- decoding OOB information, including:
- receiving a second signal comprising a plurality of multiple-bit symbols from the serial data communication link,
- evaluating at least some of the symbols in the plurality of multiple-bit symbols to determine if any of the evaluated symbols is associated with OOB information, and
- for any evaluated symbols that are associated with OOB information, and
- decoding the evaluated symbol associated with OOB information to produce reconstructed OOB information.
A method of bridging out-of-band (OOB) information across a device, comprising:
- receiving a signal comprising a plurality of multiple-bit symbols from a first communication link;
- evaluating at least some of the symbols in the plurality of multiple-bit symbols to determine if any of the evaluated symbols is associated with OOB information;
- and
- for any evaluated symbols that are associated with OOB information,
- decoding the evaluated symbol associated with OOB information to produce reconstructed OOB information;
- and
- transmitting the reconstructed OOB information on a second communication link.
A system for bridging out-of-band (OOB) information across an interface, comprising:
- means for receiving a first signal from a first communication link;
- if the first signal comprises OOB information:
- means for identifying the OOB information;
- means for selecting a symbol representing the OOB information;
- means for transmitting the symbol on a serial data communication link;
- means for receiving a second signal including one or more multiple-bit symbols
- representing encoded out-of-band (OOB) information from the serial data communication link;
- and
- means for decoding the one or more multiple-bit symbols into reconstructed OOB information.
A computer readable storage medium containing data representing a circuit that includes:
- a first circuit, including:
- a first input interface to receive a signal from a first communication link, wherein the signal includes out-of band (OOB) information;
- an encoder to encode the OOB information into corresponding symbols;
- and
- a first output interface to transmit the symbols to a serial data communication link;
- and
- a second circuit, including:
- a second input interface to receive a signal including one or more multiple-bit symbols representing encoded out-of band (OOB) information from the serial data communication link;
- and
- a decoder to decode the one or more multiple-bit symbols into reconstructed OOB information.
A computer readable storage medium containing data representing a circuit that includes:
- a first interface having an input that receives a signal including one or more multiple-bit symbols representing encoded out-of band (OOB) information from a first communication link;
- a decoder coupled to the first interface that decodes the one or more multiple-bit symbols into reconstructed OOB information;
- and
- a second interface coupled to the decoder and having an output for transmitting the reconstructed OOB information to a second communication link.
A circuit, comprising:
- an encoding path, including:
- a first input interface to receive a first signal from a first communication link, wherein the first signal includes out-of-band (OOB) information,
- an encoder to encode the OOB information into corresponding symbols, and
- a first output interface to transmit the symbols to a serial data communication link;
- and
- a decoding path, including:
- a second input interface to receive a second signal from the serial data communication link, the second signal including one or more multiple-bit symbols representing encoded out-of-band (OOB) information, and
- a decoder to decode the one or more multiple-bit symbols into reconstructed OOB information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.