Address translation in i2c data communications system

Abstract

A novel readdressing circuit is provided for supporting data communications over a data line and a clock line between at least one master device and multiple slave devices. For example, the master device and the multiple slave devices may be configured to communicate over an I2C bus including the data line and the clock line. The readdressing circuit has a data input node for receiving a data signal transferred over the data line and including an address word produced by the master device, and a data output node coupled to the multiple slave devices. The readdressing circuit also includes an address generator and an address transmit detections circuit. The address generator is configured for storing a multi-bit fixed offset value. The address generator is responsive to the address word at the data input node for generating multiple unique addresses for the multiple slave devices. The address transmit detection circuit is configured for enabling the address generator to generate the multiple unique addresses at the data output node when the address word is detected at the data input node, and for preventing an output signal of the address generator from being supplied to the data output node when no address word is detected at the data input node.