Abstract:
Systems and methods for handling silence in audio streams are disclosed. In one aspect, a transmitter detects a halt in an audio stream. After detection of the halt in the audio stream, the transmitter embeds a silence signal into the audio stream and transmits the silence signal to associated receivers. The associated receivers may respond to the embedded silence signal by “playing” silence or by using the silence signal to activate a silence protocol. In either event, the associated receivers do not receive the original audio halt and do not produce an unwanted audio artifact.
Abstract:
Aspects disclosed in the detailed description include scheduled universal serial bus (USB) low-power operations. In this regard, in one aspect, a USB host controller determines a low-power operation schedule for a USB client device. The low-power operation schedule comprises one or more scheduled low-power operation periods, each corresponding to a respective entry time and a respective exit time. The USB host controller communicates the low-power operation schedule to the USB client device using one or more USB standard packets. By scheduling the one or more scheduled low-power operation periods with respective entry and exit times, the USB host controller or the USB client controller is able to start and end the one or more scheduled low-power operation periods without incurring additional signaling, thus improving efficiency of the USB low-power operation. Further, by communicating the low-power operation schedule using USB standard packets, it is possible to preserve compatibility with USB standards.
Abstract:
System, methods, and apparatuses are described that facilitate a first device to transmit/retransmit a message to a second device. The first device transmits a first message to the second device. The first device then receives a second message and identifies a hit of the second message indicating an originator of the second message. If the bit indicates the first device as the originator of the second message, then the second message is an echo of the first message, Reception of the echo indicates that the second device is in a sleep state. Accordingly, the first device waits for the second device to wake and retransmits the first message to the second device to ensure that any packets lost during the original transmission of the first message (when the second device was asleep) are now retransmitted while the second device is known to be awake.
Abstract:
Removable memory card discrimination systems and methods are disclosed. In particular, exemplary embodiments discriminate between secure digital (SD) cards and other removable memory cards that comply with the SD form factor, but support the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) protocol. That is, a host may have a receptacle that supports the SD card form factor and is configured to receive a device. In use, a removable memory card is inserted into the receptacle and, using an SD compliant interrogation signal, the host interrogates a common area on the card so inserted. The common area includes information related to capability descriptors of the card. An SD compliant card will respond with information such as capability descriptors about the SD protocol capabilities, while a UFS compliant card will respond with an indication that the card is UFS compliant. The host may then restart the communication with the card using the UFS protocol.
Abstract:
A system for low-speed Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express (PCIe) systems, while maintaining both lower level physical layer (PHY) pin requirements and upper layer functionality being capable of both differential and single-ended signaling modes optimized for power savings. An apparatus includes an integrated circuit (IC) adapted to be connected to a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express (PCIe) bus. The IC includes a control block selects between differential and single-ended signaling for the PCIe bus. The single-ended signaling is transmitted through existing pins of the IC that are coupled to the PCIe bus for differential signaling when single-ended signaling is selected for the PCIe bus.
Abstract:
Systems and methods for time synchronization for clocks separated by a communication link allow a master clock to be positioned at a downstream-facing port or an upstream-facing port and to send synchronization commands with an associated time stamp embedded in transport layer protocol (TLP) prefixes to a slave clock. The slave clock may update its time value based on the received time stamp. Further, the slave may calculate a round trip delay between the master clock and the slave clock and use this delay calculation to correct the slave clock. The delay calculation may likewise be made using TLP prefixes. By using TLP prefixes in this fashion, the time synchronization can piggyback on existing message traffic, which reduces signaling overhead. Likewise, by using the TLP prefixes, the time synchronization may be initiated from either an upstream-facing port or a downstream-facing port.
Abstract:
System, methods and apparatus are described that can improve available bandwidth on a SoundWire bus without increasing the number of pins used by the SoundWire bus. A method performed at a master device coupled to a SoundWire bus includes providing a clock signal by a first master device over a clock line of a SoundWire bus to a first slave device and a second slave device coupled to the SoundWire bus, transmitting first control information from the first master device to the first slave device over a first data line of the SoundWire bus, and transmitting second control information from the first master device to the second slave device over a second data line of the SoundWire bus. The first control information may be different from the second control information and is transmitted concurrently with the second control information.
Abstract:
In a device comprising a serial bus and a plurality of devices, register/address mappings and/or unique group identifiers are used to convey additional information in messages/datagrams over the serial bus without explicitly sending such information in the message/datagram. Such register/address mappings may be done beforehand, and in conjunction with group-specific identifiers, may reduce transmission latency by keeping the size of the messages/datagrams small. Since all devices on the serial bus have prior knowledge of such register/address mappings and/or group-specific identifiers, recipient devices are able to infer information from the group-specific identifiers and/or register/address sent in each message/datagram that is not explicitly sent within such message/datagram.
Abstract:
A replacement physical layer (PHY) for low-speed Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express (PCIe) systems is disclosed. In one aspect, an analog PHY of a conventional PCIe system is replaced with a digital PHY. The digital PHY is coupled to a media access control (MAC) logic by a PHY interface for PCIe (PIPE) directly. In further exemplary aspects, the digital PHY may be a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) PHY that includes a serializer and a deserializer. Replacing the analog PHY with the digital PHY allows entry and exit from low-power modes to occur much quicker, resulting in substantial power savings and reduced latency. Because the digital PHY is operable with low-speed communication, the digital PHY can maintain sufficient bandwidth that communication is not unnecessarily impacted by digital logic of the digital PHY.
Abstract:
Alternate acknowledgment (ACK) signals in a coalescing Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) system are disclosed. In one aspect, a network interface card (NIC) examines packet payloads, and the NIC generates an ACK signal for a sending server before sending a coalesced packet to an internal processor. Further, the NIC may examine incoming packets and send an ACK signal to the internal processor for ACK signals that are received from the sending server before sending the coalesced packet to the internal processor. By extracting and sending the ACK signals before sending the corresponding payloads in the coalesced packet, latency that would otherwise be incurred waiting for the ACK signal is eliminated. Elimination of such latency may improve network performance and may provide power savings.