Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090074049 | USE OF EMPHASIS TO EQUALIZE HIGH SPEED SIGNAL QUALITY - A method, apparatus, and system for minimizing ringing in a high speed channel between a transmitter and a receiver in a circuit, including a component for initializing an n-tap equalization filter. The n-tap equalization filter includes numerous taps, each associated with each of numerous jitter pulses received from the transmitter at the receiver and over the channel. Many of the jitter pulses are greater than two. Further, each tap occurs at a time-domain point related to a time of a corresponding jitter pulse included within the numerous jitter pulses. Moreover, a component for applying the n-tap equalization filter to a subsequent signal sent over the channel is also included. | 03-19-2009 |
20090238318 | MECHANISM FOR CONSTRUCTING AN OVERSAMPLED WAVEFORM FOR A SET OF SIGNALS RECEIVED BY A RECEIVER - A mechanism is provided for constructing an oversampled waveform for a set of incoming signals received by a receiver. In one implementation, the oversampled waveform is constructed by way of cooperation between the receiver and a waveform construction mechanism (WCM). The receiver receives the incoming signals, samples a subset of the incoming signals at a time, stores the subsets of sample values into a set of registers, and subsequently provides the subsets of sample values to the WCM. The WCM in turn sorts through the subsets of sample values, organizes them into proper orders, and “stitches” them together to construct the oversampled waveform for the set of incoming signals. With proper cooperation between the receiver and the WCM, and with proper processing logic on the WCM, it is possible to construct the oversampled waveform for the incoming signals without requiring large amounts of resources on the receiver. | 09-24-2009 |
20090296360 | VOLTAGE REGULATOR ATTACH FOR HIGH CURRENT CHIP APPLICATIONS - A voltage regulator. The voltage regulator includes an interposer having, on a first side, a plurality of electrical connections suitable for coupling to a printed circuit board (PCB). The interposer also includes at least one power plane and at least one ground plane, wherein each of the power and ground planes is coupled to one or more of the electrical connections. The voltage regulator further includes a DC-DC converter that is electro-mechanically attachable to and detachable from the interposer. The interposer includes a socket, on a second side, that is suitable to receive two or more electro-mechanical connecting members of the DC-DC converter. When the DC-DC converter is attached to the interposer, at least one of the electromechanical connecting members is electrically coupled to a power plane of the interposer, while at least one other one of the electromechanical connecting members is electrically coupled to the ground plane. | 12-03-2009 |
20090316727 | Real-Time Optimization of TX FIR Filter for High-Speed Data Communication - A feedback module is defined to receive as input a set of data sample signals and a set of reference sample signals. Each of the data and reference sample signals is generated by sampling a differential signal having been transmitted through a FIR filter. The feedback module is defined to operate a respective post cursor counter for each post cursor of the FIR filter and update the post cursor counters based on the received sets of data and reference sample signals. Also, the feedback module is defined to generate a tap weight adjustment signal for a given tap weight of the FIR filter when a magnitude of a post cursor counter corresponding to the given tap weight is greater than or equal to a threshold value. An adaptation module is defined to adapt a reference voltage used to generate the reference sample signals to a condition of the differential signal. | 12-24-2009 |
20100158177 | LOW JITTER AND HIGH BANDWIDTH CLOCK DATA RECOVERY - A method of implementing a low jitter and high bandwidth clock and data recovery (CDR) apparatus includes acquiring early, optimal, and late votes; determining which votes are allowed and weighted; disallowing votes not determined to as allowed; weighing votes, wherein votes that would make the CDR move to an extreme of a zero crossing are weighted less; and accumulating votes and adjusting a recovered clock phase based on the accumulated votes. A computer readable medium storing instructions to implement a low jitter and high bandwidth CDR apparatus, the instructions includes functionality to: acquiring early, optimal, and late votes; determining which votes are allowed and weighted; disallowing votes not determined to as allowed; weighing votes, wherein votes that would make the CDR move to an extreme of a zero crossing are weighted less; and accumulating votes and adjust recovered clock phase. | 06-24-2010 |
20100158182 | Method and System for Reducing Duty Cycle Distortion Amplification in Forwarded Clocks - A method and apparatus for reducing the amplification of the duty cycle distortion of high frequency clock signals when is provided. A data signal is sent to a receiver via a first channel. A clock signal is sent to the receiver via a second channel. The clock signal is filtered to substantially remove therefrom low frequency components before the clock signal is used by the receiver to recover data from the data signal. | 06-24-2010 |
20100177841 | Power and Area Efficient SerDes Transmitter - A system and method include a SerDes transmitter comprising a digital block operating in a digital voltage domain. The digital block can be configured to receive a first group of bits of data in parallel and store history bits from another group of data. The SerDes transmitter can further comprise an analog block operating in an analog voltage domain. The analog block can be configured to receive the first group of bits of data from the digital block, receive the history bits from the digital block, generate a plurality of combinations of bits with one or more bits from the first group of bits and zero or more bits from the history bits, align each combination of bits to a phase of a multi-phase clock; and input each combination into an output driver. | 07-15-2010 |
20100208855 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF ADAPTING PRECURSOR TAP COEFFICIENT - A system and methods for recovering data from an input data signal are disclosed. The system includes a transmitter for conveying a data signal filtered by a finite impulse response (FIR) filter to a receiver via a channel. The receiver uses an adaptive algorithm to determine update signals for a pre-cursor tap coefficient of the FIR based on samples taken from the received data signal and conveys the update signals to the FIR. To generate update signals, the receiver samples the data signal at a phase estimated to correspond to a peak amplitude of a pulse response of the channel. The phase is based on a clock recovered from the data signal. The update signals increase or decrease a pre-cursor tap coefficient setting in response to determining that the phase corresponds to a point earlier or later, respectively, than the peak amplitude of the channel's pulse response. | 08-19-2010 |
20100238993 | AN INTEGRATED EQUALIZATION AND CDR ADAPTATION ENGINE WITH SINGLE ERROR MONITOR CIRCUIT - A data communications system and methods are disclosed. The system includes a transmitter for conveying a data signal filtered by a finite impulse response (FIR) filter to a receiver via a channel. The receiver equalizes the received data signal using a decision feedback equalizer (DFE) and the FIR. The receiver samples the data signal to determine an error signal and uses the error signal to adapt settings of a pre-cursor tap coefficient of the FIR, one or more post-cursor tap coefficients of the FIR, a phase of the recovered clock, and a coefficient of the DFE. To adapt the settings, the receiver determines the error signal based on an error sample taken from the data signal in a single clock cycle. To determine an error signal, the receiver samples the data signal at a phase estimated to correspond to a peak amplitude of a pulse response of the channel. | 09-23-2010 |
20100271793 | PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD WITH OPTIMIZED MOUNTING HOLES AND ALIGNMENT PINS - A mounting plane assembly (e.g., backplane or midplane) is provided for interconnecting a plurality of daughterboards in a server computer. The mounting plane assembly includes a printed circuit board (“PCB”) that has a plurality of shared mounting holes for attaching connector alignment pins to a front side of the PCB as well as mechanical support elements to a back side of the PCB through the same mounting holes. | 10-28-2010 |
20110103458 | ASYMMETRIC DECISION FEEDBACK EQUALIZATION SLICING IN HIGH SPEED TRANSCEIVERS - An asymmetric DFE receiver circuit. The receiver circuit includes a voltage measuring unit configured to determine a signal voltage of a received signal, and a comparator unit configured to calculate a difference between the signal voltage and an evaluation threshold voltage and to compare the difference to the value of a midpoint voltage. The comparator unit is configured to generate a first control signal if the difference is greater than the midpoint voltage value or a second control signal if the signal voltage is less than the midpoint voltage value. The receiver includes an adjustment circuit configured to adjust the evaluation threshold voltage toward the signal voltage if the first control signal is generated and away from the signal voltage if the second control signal is generated. The rates of adjustment may vary depending upon whether the received signal is a transition bit or a non-transition bit. | 05-05-2011 |
20110107292 | Extraction of Component Models from PCB Channel Scattering Parameter Data by Stochastic Optimization - Various embodiments herein include one or more of systems, methods, software, and/or data structures to extract models of components (e.g., vias and traces) for PCB channels from measurements (or simulations) taken from physical PCB channels. By applying stochastic optimization to measurements of two PCB channels having different channel lengths, s-matrices (e.g., two-port, four-port, and the like) of the components of a PCB channel may be accurately determined by searching the multi-dimensional parameter space for parameters that comply with the measured values. Once the models for the components have been accurately determined, they may be utilized in constructing a model library that includes component models and is based on physical measurement data. | 05-05-2011 |
20110150060 | Voltage Margin Monitoring for an ADC-Based Serializer/Deserializer in Mission Mode - Various embodiments herein include one or more of systems, methods, software, and/or data structures to determine voltage margin for a high-speed serial data link. Advantageously, the margin determination may be made during normal operation of the data link (“mission mode”) such that the performance of the data link is not affected by the voltage margin measurements. That is, the margin measurements may be performed “on line” rather than “off line.” To facilitate the voltage margin measurement, a plurality of digital samples from an analog to digital converter (ADC) may be evaluated to determine the most probable bit values (i.e., digital 1's and 0's) that are represented by the digital samples. Then, a method may be used to remove or compensate for ISI effects from one or more of the digital samples, thereby providing an accurate representation of the voltage margin present in a data link. Subsequently, the voltage margin may be periodically monitored over time to detect degradation of the data link. | 06-23-2011 |
20110261900 | MECHANISM FOR CONSTRUCTING AN OVERSAMPLED WAVEFORM FOR A SET OF SIGNALS RECEIVED BY A RECEIVER - A mechanism is provided for constructing an oversampled waveform for a set of incoming signals received by a receiver. In one implementation, the oversampled waveform is constructed by way of cooperation between the receiver and a waveform construction mechanism (WCM). The receiver receives the incoming signals, samples a subset of the incoming signals at a time, stores the subsets of sample values into a set of registers, and subsequently provides the subsets of sample values to the WCM. The WCM in turn sorts through the subsets of sample values, organizes them into proper orders, and “stitches” them together to construct the oversampled waveform for the set of incoming signals. With proper cooperation between the receiver and the WCM, and with proper processing logic on the WCM, it is possible to construct the oversampled waveform for the incoming signals without requiring large amounts of resources on the receiver. | 10-27-2011 |
20120033685 | SERIAL LINK VOLTAGE MARGIN DETERMINATION IN MISSION MODE - This disclosure describes systems and methods for determining a voltage margin (or margin) of a serializer/deserializer (SerDes) receiver in mission mode using a SerDes receiver. This is done by time-division multiplexing a margin determination and a tap weight adaptation onto the same hardware (or software, or combination of hardware and software). In other words, some parts of a SerDes receiver (e.g., an error slicer and an adaptation module) can be used for two different tasks at different times without degrading the effectiveness or bandwidth of the receiver. Hence, the disclosed systems and methods allow a SerDes receiver to determine the SerDes margin in mission mode and without any additional hardware or circuitry on the receiver chip. | 02-09-2012 |
20120068544 | AUTONOMOUS CONTROL IN CURRENT SHARE POWER SUPPLIES - A method for autonomous control by a power supply unit (PSU) among a number of current share PSUs in a power supply system. The method includes: Receiving input power from a power input feed; setting a mode of the PSU to ON; receiving a first controlled signal including a first number of IStar modes and thresholds; receiving a first activation signal activating IStar in the PSU; receiving a second controlled signal comprising a first voltage; determining that the first voltage is less than a first Active standby OFF threshold for an IStar mode of Active standby OFF; setting the IStar mode for the PSU to Active standby OFF; receiving a third controlled signal that includes a second voltage; determining that the second voltage is greater than a first Active ON threshold for an IStar mode of Active ON; and setting the IStar mode for the PSU to Active ON. | 03-22-2012 |
20120072738 | REDUCING LATENCY WHEN ACTIVATING A POWER SUPPLY UNIT - A method for reducing latency using a charging module when activating a power supply unit (PSU) among a plurality of PSUs in a power supply system. The method includes: Receiving, by the PSU from a power input feed, input power; receiving, from a supply bus shared by the plurality of PSUs, a first controlled signal designating a status of the PSU as standby; disabling, in response to the first controlled signal, a switching regulator of the PSU; receiving, from a voltage rail of the supply bus, charge flowing through a resistor of the charging module to maintain a charge of an output capacitor of the switching regulator; receiving a second controlled signal designating the status of the PSU as active; enabling the switching regulator; outputting a voltage from the PSU through the charging module to the voltage rail; and charging the output capacitor using the PSU. | 03-22-2012 |
20120072754 | METHOD FOR SYSTEM ENERGY USE MANAGEMENT OF CURRENT SHARED POWER SUPPLIES - A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, where the computer readable program code is adapted to, when executed by a processor, implement a method for managing a power supply system. The method includes identifying a number of power supplies included in the power supply system, and determining a first system mode for the power supply system. The method also includes determining a first operating order for the power supplies, and assigning a first ACTIVE ON threshold to each of the power supplies to obtain a number of first ACTIVE ON thresholds. The method further includes assigning a first ACTIVE STANDBY OFF threshold to each of the power supplies to obtain a number of first ACTIVE STANDBY OFF thresholds, where the power supply system provides electrical power to at least one computer system. | 03-22-2012 |