Cable with circuitry for asserting stored cable data or other information to an external device or user
View Patent ↗A cable including circuitry for asserting information to a user or external device and a system including such a cable. The cable can include conductors, a memory storing cable data, and circuitry configured to respond to a request received on at least one of the conductors by accessing at least some of the cable data and asserting the accessed data serially to at least one of the conductors (e.g., for transmission to an external device). Other aspects of the invention are methods for accessing cable data stored in a cable and optionally using the data (e.g., to implement equalization). The cable data can be indicative of all or some of cable type, grade, speed, length, and impedance, a date code, a frequency-dependent attenuation table, far-end crosstalk and EMI-related coefficients, common mode radiation, intra pair skew, and other information. The cable can include a radiation-emitting element and circuitry for generating driving signals for causing the radiation-emitting element to produce an appropriate color, brightness, and/or blinking pattern.
1. A cable, including:
a conductor set; and
a subsystem, coupled to at least one conductor of the conductor set, and configured to respond to a change in state of at least one conductor of the conductor set by asserting cable guide information wherein the subsystem includes:
at least one radiation-emitting element; and
circuitry coupled to and capable of driving the radiation-emitting element, wherein the circuitry is configured to determine from the change in state of the at least one conductor whether a device of a first type is coupled to the cable and to cause the radiation-emitting element to emit radiation indicative of the cable guide information in response to determining that a device of said first type is coupled to the cable, wherein the cable guide information is indicative of a second type of device to which a free end of the cable should be connected.
2. The cable of claim 1 , wherein the radiation-emitting element is an LED.
3. A cable, including:
a conductor set; and
a subsystem, coupled to at least one conductor of the conductor set, and configured to respond to a change in state of at least one conductor of the conductor set by asserting cable guide information, wherein the subsystem includes:
at least one radiation-emitting element;
a first circuit coupled to and capable of driving the radiation-emitting element, wherein the first circuit is configured to determine from a change in state of a first subset of the conductor set whether a device of a first type is coupled to the cable and to cause the radiation-emitting element to emit radiation indicating that a device of a second type should be connected to the cable in response to determining that a device of the first type is coupled to the cable; and
a second circuit coupled to and capable of driving the radiation-emitting element, wherein the second circuit is configured to determine from a change in state of a second subset of the conductor set whether a device of the second type is coupled to the cable and to cause the radiation-emitting element to emit radiation indicating that a device of the first type should be connected to the cable in response to determining that a device of the second type is coupled to the cable.
4. A method for providing cable data stored in a cable to an external device, including the steps of:
asserting a request from the external device to at least one conductor of the cable;
responding to the request by accessing at least some of the cable data and transmitting the accessed cable data serially from the cable to the external device on at least one conductor of the cable, wherein the external device is a transmitter configured to apply pre-emphasis to content data; and
determining pre-emphasis values for use in applying pre-emphasis to the content data in response to at least some of the cable data received from the cable.
5. A method for providing cable data stored in a cable to an external device, including the steps of:
asserting a request from the external device to at least one conductor of the cable;
responding to the request by accessing at least some of the cable data and transmitting the accessed cable data serially from the cable to the external device on at least one conductor of the cable, wherein the external device is a transmitter configured to transmit data over the cable to a receiver, and the receiver is configured to perform equalization on the data;
setting at least one said equalization parameter in response to at least some of the cable data received at the transmitter from the cable; and
in the receiver, performing equalization on the data in accordance with the at least one equalization parameter.
6. A method for providing cable data stored in a cable to an external device, including the steps of:
asserting a request from the external device to at least one conductor of the cable;
responding to the request by accessing at least some of the cable data and transmitting the accessed cable data serially from the cable to the external device on at least one conductor of the cable, wherein the external device is a transmitter configured to transmit data over the cable to a receiver having termination circuitry, and also including the step of:
configuring the termination circuitry in response to at least some of the cable data received at the transmitter from the cable.
7. A method for providing cable data stored in a cable to an external device, including the steps of:
asserting a request from the external device to at least one conductor of the cable; and
responding to the request by accessing at least some of the cable data and transmitting the accessed cable data serially from the cable to the external device on at least one conductor of the cable, wherein the cable includes a conductor set, the external device is a transmitter configured to transmit data over the cable to a receiver, the request is asserted from the transmitter to a first conductor subset of the conductor set and the accessed cable data are transmitted to the external device over the first conductor subset, and also including the step of:
transmitting content data from the transmitter to the receiver over a second conductor subset of the conductor set.
8. A method for providing cable data stored in a cable to an external device, including the steps of:
asserting a request from the external device to at least one conductor of the cable;
responding to the request by accessing at least some of the cable data and transmitting the accessed cable data serially from the cable to the external device on at least one conductor of the cable, wherein the cable includes Display Data Channel lines and other conductors, the external device is a transmitter configured to transmit data over the cable to a receiver, the request is asserted from the transmitter to at least one of the Display Data Channel lines and the accessed cable data are transmitted to the external device over at least one of the Display Data Channel lines, and also including the step of:
transmitting content data from the transmitter to the receiver over at least one of the other conductors.
9. A method for providing cable data stored in a cable to an external device, including the steps of:
asserting a request from the external device to at least one conductor of the cable;
responding to the request by accessing at least some of the cable data and transmitting the accessed cable data serially from the cable to the external device on at least one conductor of the cable, wherein the external device is a transmitter, the cable stores a cryptographic key set, and also including the step of:
operating circuitry in the cable to execute a verification operation with the transmitter
including by transmitting at least one cryptographic key of the key set over at least
one conductor of the cable to the transmitter.
10. A method for asserting cable guide information from a cable including a conductor set and an information asserting subsystem, said method including the steps of:
(a) monitoring at least one conductor of the conductor set; and
(b) in response to a change in state of at least one conductor of the conductor set, asserting the cable guide information from the information asserting subsystem, wherein step (b) includes the step of:
in response to a change in state of said at least one conductor of the conductor set indicating that a device of a first type is coupled to the cable, emitting radiation indicative of the cable guide information, wherein the cable guide information is indicative of a second type of device to which a free end of the cable should be connected.