Computer-aided design and analysis of circuits and semiconductor – Nanotechnology related integrated circuit design
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-29
2003-11-11
Smith, Matthew (Department: 2825)
Computer-aided design and analysis of circuits and semiconductor
Nanotechnology related integrated circuit design
C439S620040, C710S305000, C710S104000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06647537
ABSTRACT:
This application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. §365 of International Application PCT/EP00/04693, filed May 23, 2000, which was published in accordance with PCT Article 21(2) on Dec. 14, 2000 in English and which claims the benefit of European patent application No. 99110705.3 filed Jun. 3, 1999.
The invention relates to an IEEE 1394 cable connector.
BACKGROUND
The IEEE 1394 standard describes a high speed, low cost Serial Bus suitable for use as a peripheral bus or a backup to parallel back-plane buses. Highlights of the Serial Bus include:
a) Automatic assignment of node addresses—no need for address switches.
b) Variable speed data transmission based on ISDN-compatible 1 bit rates from 24.576 Mbit/s for TTL backplanes to 49.152 Mbit/s for BTL backplanes to 98.304, 196.608, and 393.216 Mbit/s for the cable medium.
c) The cable medium allows up to 16 physical connections (cable hops) each of up to 4.5 meters, giving a total cable distance of 72 meters between any two devices. Bus management recognises smaller configurations to optimise performance.
d) Bus transactions that include both block and single quadlet reads and writes, as well as an “isochronous” mode which provides a low-overhead guaranteed bandwidth service.
e) A physical layer (PHY) supporting both cable media and backplane busses.
f) A fair bus access mechanism that guarantees all nodes equal access. The backplane environment adds a priority mechanism, but one that ensures that nodes using the fair protocol are still guaranteed at least partial access.
An IEEE 1394 4-pin cable connects a pair of devices, a further device can be added by another cable attached to one of the former two, etc.—thus establishing a cluster or chain of devices. This chain contains devices which have two neighbouring devices attached to them, as well as devices at the end of the chain with only one neighbour. Each device has a mains connection, and when the device is switched off and goes into a stand-by mode, its IEEE 1394 physical layer implementation is still powered to provide certain functionality. If for example the home user disconnects the power plug of one device in a chain—e.g., the TV set—this stand-by function will be lost. As a consequence, the PHY layer functionality is lost and the chain is broken—leaving two separate smaller clusters of devices.
In order to avoid a break of the chain in case of internal power supply failure a solution is described in the IEEE 1394 standard, using a power storage device to provide power to the devices, while these devices are gracefully shutting down after the internal power supply fails. Normally the internal power supply provides power for the PHY and the power storage device. If the internal power supply fails a power fail sense line signals the logic that a failure has occurred and the load switches over to the power storage device.
INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to disclose an IEEE 1394 cable connector, that allows bus connections to all available devices linked to the bus in case of power failure of one device.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by means of the features specified in main claims. Advantageous designs and developments are specified in subclaims.
In case of a loss of power supply a short-circuit between the corresponding pins of the two IEEE 1394 connectors of a device is established. Preferably this will be achieved by a relay controlling switches. If power is available, the relay is powered and the switches are open. The device then behaves like without this extension. If power is lost, the relay is not powered any longer, and the switches are closed. By this way, the device simply disappears from the cluster, which will then be reorganised according to IEEE 1394 rules.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4819225 (1989-04-01), Hochstein
patent: 5379292 (1995-01-01), Kurata et al.
patent: 5526217 (1996-06-01), Gormley et al.
patent: 5758101 (1998-05-01), Pemberton
patent: 5808371 (1998-09-01), Kon'i et al.
patent: 5883892 (1999-03-01), Taniguchi
patent: 5984731 (1999-11-01), Laity
patent: 6073193 (2000-06-01), Yap
patent: 6116962 (2000-09-01), Laity
patent: 6183307 (2001-02-01), Laity et al.
patent: 6393509 (2002-05-01), Yamada et al.
patent: 340292 (1994-01-01), None
patent: 07031056 (1995-01-01), None
patent: 98/33189 (1998-07-01), None
Nazarov, V V (Russian Patent Document No. RU 2005306 C1, Dec. 30, 1993, 3 pages).*
NN94048241, “Soft-Stop Circuit Permits Hot-Unplugging of Boards”, IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, vol. 37, No. 8, Aug. 1994, pp. 241-241 (4 pages).*
Translation into English of previously submitted reference in German (IDS of Nov. 29, 2001), “IEEE 1394 Das tor Zu Multimedia” radio Fernsehen Elektronik, vol. 46 No. 9, Sep. 1, 1997, pp, 54, 56.
Copy of search Report dated Sep. 15, 2000.
D. Moore IEEE 1394: “The Cable Connection to Complete the Digita Revolution Impact-IEEE 1394” “Online”, Nov. 10, 1996 Retrieved from the Internet.
A. Paskins “The IEEE 1394 BUS” IEE Half-Day Colloquium on New High Capacity Digital Media and Their Applications, May 12, 1997, pp. 4/1-4/06.
Cahnbley Jens
Haupt Dieter
Hepper Dietmar
Riemann Uwe
Kiel Paul P.
Kik Phallaka
Smith Matthew
Thomson Licensing S.A.
Tripoli Joseph S.
LandOfFree
IEEE 1394 cable connector with short circuit switch does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with IEEE 1394 cable connector with short circuit switch, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and IEEE 1394 cable connector with short circuit switch will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3181445