Drive strength adjustment through voltage auto-sense
View Patent ↗An integrated circuit supports auto-sense of voltage for drive strength adjustment. The method may comprise detecting an input voltage received at an auto-sense pad integrated on a mobile multimedia processing (MMP) chip. The input voltage may be a power supply voltage of the peripheral device received during power-up of the MMP chip, power-up of the peripheral circuitry, and/or dynamically while the MMP is powered-up. The auto-sense pad may adjust drive strength of at least one other pad, which may be an output pad or a bidirectional pad, integrated on the MMP chip may be configured to operate using the determined output voltage. A rise time and/or fall time of signals output by the MMP chip may be varied by the adjustment of the drive strength.
1. A method for controlling pads of a processor chip, the method comprising:
detecting, on the processor chip, a voltage present at an auto-sense pad integrated with the processor chip; and
adjusting a drive characteristic of a signal pad also integrated with the processor chip, responsive to the voltage detected, the signal pad configured to couple the processor chip to a peripherial device.
2. The method of claim 1 , where adjusting the drive characteristic comprises adjusting a voltage applied to the signal pad.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the voltage comprises a peripheral device power supply voltage.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the signal pad comprises an output pad or a bidirectional pad.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein adjusting the drive characteristic comprises adjusting a signal rise time.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein adjusting the drive characteristic comprises adjusting current drive.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein adjusting the drive characteristic comprises adjusting a fall time of a signal.
8. A processor chip pad control system comprising:
voltage detection circuitry on a processor chip that detects a voltage present at an auto- sense pad integrated on the processor chip; and
responsive to the voltage, drive adjustment circuitry on the processor chip that adjusts a drive characteristic of a signal pad also integrated on the processor chip, the signal pad configured to couple the processor chip to a peripherial device.
9. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the voltage comprises a peripheral device power supply voltage.
10. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the signal pad comprises an output pad or a bidirectional pad.
11. The system according to claim 8 , where the drive characteristic comprises a voltage applied to the signal pad.
12. The system according to claim 8 , where the drive characteristic comprises a rise time.
13. The system according to claim 8 , where the processor chip adjust the drive characteristic by adjusting current drive.
14. The system according to claim 8 , where the drive characteristic comprises a fall time.
15. A product comprising:
a machine-readable medium, other than a transitory signal; and
instructions stored on the machine-readable medium that, when executed, cause a machine to:
detect a voltage present at an auto-sense pad integrated with a processor chip; and
responsive to the voltage, adjust a drive characteristic of a signal pad also integrated with the processor chip, the signal pad configured to couple the processor chip to a peripherial device.
16. The product of claim 15 , wherein the voltage comprises a peripheral device power supply voltage.
17. The product of claim 15 , where the drive characteristic comprises a voltage applied to the signal pad.
18. The product of claim 15 , where the drive characteristic comprises a rise time.
19. The product of claim 15 , where the instructions cause the machine to adjust the drive characteristic comprises by adjusting current drive.
20. The system according to claim 15 , where the drive characteristic comprises a fall time.