초록 ▼

An improved serial data transmission system employs a skewing network to selectively skew each of the plurality of input signals by a successively increasing integral multiple of the average period of the multiplexed output signal. The skewed signals are merged in a combinatorial merging network hav

An improved serial data transmission system employs a skewing network to selectively skew each of the plurality of input signals by a successively increasing integral multiple of the average period of the multiplexed output signal. The skewed signals are merged in a combinatorial merging network having substantially identical delay times in its data path, to provide the multiplexed signal. In an exemplary embodiment, the invention provides a time-division multiplexer in which the incoming signals are precoded prior to being skewed by the skewing network, so that the form of the multiplexed output signal is the conventional sequentially interleaved input signals as provided by prior art multiplexers, and the merging network is a binary tree EXCLUSIVE OR gate array. In another exemplary embodiment, the invention provides a multiplexer with a skewing network and a merging network to generate a serial signal, and a corresponding demultiplexer which deskews the serial signal and postcodes the deskewed data to recover the original input signals. The invention eliminates the need for latches capable of operating at the data rate of the output signal, and does not require the generation and distribution of clock signals of higher frequency than the incoming data.

대표청구항 ▼

A time-division multiplexer having a plurality of first conductors each for receiving a respective input signal having a first or second state, the state of each input signal changing no more frequently than a first periodic rate having a first period, and having an output conductor for providing a

A time-division multiplexer having a plurality of first conductors each for receiving a respective input signal having a first or second state, the state of each input signal changing no more frequently than a first periodic rate having a first period, and having an output conductor for providing a time-division-multiplexed signal derived from the input signals of the first conductors, comprising: precoding means having a plurality of sequentially ordered channels, including a first, second and last channel, each one of the channels corresponding to a particular one of the first conductors, and a plurality of second conductors each corresponding to a particular one of the channels, each of the channels, except for the first channel, providing to its corresponding second conductor a signal having a first or second state, the signal being inverted from a present state to another state whenever the state of the input signal of the corresponding first conductor and the state of the input signal of the first conductor of a preceding channel differ, and the first channel providing to its corresponding second conductor a signal having a first or second state, the signal being inverted from a present state to another state whenever the state of the input signal of the corresponding first conductor during a current first period and the input signal of the first conductor corresponding to the last channel during a preceding first period differ; skewing means receiving the signals of the second conductors and operatively connected to a plurality of third conductors each corresponding to a particular one of the second conductors, the skewing means sampling the signal of each of the second conductors at the first periodic rate and supplying samples of the signal of each second conductor to a corresponding third conductor, the sampling of the signal of each of the second conductors, except for the second conductor corresponding to the first channel being skewed by a common predetermined interval with respect to the sampling of the signal of the second conductor corresponding to a preceding channel; and merging means having an output operatively coupled to the output conductor and a plurality of inputs operatively coupled to corresponding third conductors, and being responsive to the samples of the signal of each of the third conductors for providing at the output conductor an output signal having a first or second state, the output signal changing from a present state to another state whenever any one of the skewed sampled signals of the third conductors changes its state, wherein the merging means provides substantially equal propagation delays between each input and the output thereof.