Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Justin M Schauer

Robert David Hopkins

Alex Chow

Ivan E Sutherland

Jo C Ebergen

A semiconductor die includes proximity connectors proximate to a surface of the semiconductor die. This semiconductor die is configured to communicate signals with another semiconductor die via proximity communication through one or more of the proximity connectors. In particular, the proximity connectors include a first group of proximity connectors that is configured to facilitate determining a first separation between the semiconductor die and the other semiconductor die by comparing coupling capacitances between the semiconductor die and the other semiconductor die. Note that the first group of proximity connectors includes a first proximity connector and a second proximity connector, and the second proximity connector at least partially encloses an in-plane outer edge of the first proximity connector.

Determining chip separation by comparing coupling capacitances

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that asynchronously controls sending data items from a sender to a receiver. This system includes a set of sending FIFOs, a set of receiving FIFOs, as well as a shared data path between the sender and the receiver. The system also includes a set of control paths that operate in parallel between the sender and the receiver, wherein a given control path controls the transmission of data items between a corresponding sending FIFO and a corresponding receiving FIFO through the shared data path. The system further includes a round-robin scheduling mechanism which activates one control path at a time in a predetermined sequence. An activated control path asynchronously controls the sending of a data item from a corresponding sending FIFO to a corresponding receiving FIFO. By operating the control paths in parallel in the predetermined sequence, the system does not have to wait a request-acknowledge cycle time between the sender and the receiver before sending consecutive data items through the shared data path, but can instead send multiple data items through the shared data path within a single request-acknowledge cycle time.

Apparatus and method for high-throughput asynchronous communication with flow control

In a method for determining capacitance, a first time-varying signal is driven on a first terminal of a first capacitor and a second time-varying signal is driven on a first terminal of a second capacitor, where the first time-varying signal and the second time-varying signal have a pre-determined phase relationship with each other. These signals are received on second terminals of the first capacitor and the second capacitor and demodulated using a periodic signal to produce demodulated signals. This periodic signal has the same fundamental frequency as the first time-varying signal and the second time-varying signal. A DC component in the demodulated signals is then determined by filtering the demodulated signals, and the sign of the DC component is used to determine a relative capacitance of the first capacitor and the second capacitor.

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Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Justin M Schauer