12C slave device with programmable write-transaction cycles

In a communications system using an I2C serial data transfer bus that has a serial data line and a clock line used to implement a communications protocol, a method for a slave device to update at least two banks of output drivers in the slave device, comprising:

• programming a register in the slave device, using the communications protocol, to designate whether the at least two banks of output drivers are to update sequentially or to update in parallel;
• receiving serial data using the serial data transfer bus;
• assembling one or more data words from the serial data;
• and
• updating the at least two banks of output drivers using the assembled one or more data words, each bank updating either sequentially or in parallel relative to other banks, based on the programmed register.

A communications system using an I2C serial data transfer bus that has a serial data line and a clock line used to implement a communications protocol, the communications system comprising:

• two or more slave devices, each slave device comprising:
• input circuitry configured to receive serial data using the serial data transfer bus and provide a data word assembled from the serial data;
• a programmable register configured to be programmed, using the communications protocol, to select one or more slave device configurations;
• and
• at least one bank of output drivers, configured to output the assembled data word provided by the input circuitry;
• and
• wherein each of the two or more slave devices updates its output drivers either sequentially, or in coordination with other of the two or more slave devices, based on each slave devices configuration selected by its programmable register.