Increasing control information from a single general purpose...

Details Increasing control information from a single general purpose... Increasing control information from a single general purpose...

2001-04-27

2004-07-20

Lefkowitz, Sumati (Department: 2181)

Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/

Intrasystem connection

Bus expansion or extension

C710S015000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06766401

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to general purpose input/output mechanisms (GPIOs), and more particularly to increasing control information from a single GPIO.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A trend emerging in computer system development and manufacturing involves a move toward a building block-based approach, where a system is created by a collection of building blocks. This approach places increasing need on the ability to detect, enable/disable, and customize building blocks to create the desired personality of the system.
The flexibility of varying the system configuration through building blocks requires that the POST (power-on self test) of the planar be able to detect, enable/disable, and configure the various options installed. This is frequently handled with the use of General Purpose Input Outputs (GPIOs). Typically, a GPIO can only detect two states (high/low) and is dedicated to a function or a particular device. For example, if a particular card is installed, the GPIO may detect a low state, while if the card is not installed, the GPIO may detect a high state.
The push to a building block model is rapidly increasing the need for GPIOs to assist in the detection of the building blocks installed. However, some systems have to limit the number of GPIOs due to other design considerations. Thus, a need exists for a manner of increasing the amount of control information from GPIOs without increasing the number of GPIOs.
The present invention addresses such a need.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Aspects for increasing control information from a single general purpose input/output (GPIO) mechanism are described. The aspects include establishing a plurality of voltage levels to indicate a plurality of states for association with installed options on a computer system planar. Further included is the determination of which of the installed options is present via the single GPIO.
Through the present invention, an increase in the amount of control/information that is available using GPIOs is achieved in a straightforward and effective manner without increasing the number of GPIOs. With the simple addition of parallel arrangement of resistors in a resistor network and efficient utilization of an unused A/D already present in the system, multiple states can be detected via the single GPIO. These and other advantages of the aspects of the present invention will be more fully understood in conjunction with the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.


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