The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 13, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 28, 2002
David Kuochieh Su, Mountain View, CA (US);
Masoud Zargari, Cupertino, CA (US);
Lars E. Thon, San Jose, CA (US);
William J. McFarland, Los Altos, CA (US);
Atheros Communications, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A control interface, which includes both master and slave devices, can provide buffering of input data packets, thereby allowing configurations of the integrated circuit to be modified quickly and efficiently. Additionally, the control interface can be sized and configured to receive digital signals from any number of nodes on an integrated circuit, thereby facilitating the testing, lab characterization, and debugging of those nodes. Finally, the control interface can advatageously control the monitoring of analog components on the integrated circuit, thereby significantly reducing the number of pins for such monitoring. The control interface has particular relevance to highly integrated circuits that utilize analog and/or mixed signals.