APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ESTABLISHING DEVICE IDENTIFIERS FOR SERIALLY INTERCONNECTED DEVICES
A method or apparatus operates a multitude of devices in a serial interconnection configuration to establish a device identifier (ID) for each device. An input signal is transmitted through a serial interconnection to a first device using inputs that are also used by the first device to input other information thereto (e.g., data, commands, control signals). A generating circuit generates a device ID in response to the input signal. A transfer circuit then transfers an output signal associated with the device ID to a second device through a serial output of the first device. The serial output is also used by the first device to output other information (e.g., signals, data) to another device in the serial interconnection configuration.
1 . A system comprising:
a controller; and
a serial interconnection configuration of a plurality of devices, each of the devices comprising:
an input for receiving an M-bit input signal in response to an assertion of an input enable signal;
an output for transferring an M-bit output signal in response to an assertion of an output enable signal;
a clock input for receiving a clock signal;
a device identifier (ID) establisher for establishing a device ID for the device, the device ID establisher having an ID producer for providing the device ID in response to the M-bit input signal received at the input of the device, the M-bit input signal including a value associated with the device ID of the device, the M-bit output signal including an N-bit data corresponding to the device ID through the output of the device to a subsequent device in the serial interconnection configuration synchronously with the clock signal, M and N being an integer that is one or greater than one;
an ID register for storing the N-bit data as an assigned ID for the device; and
a control input for receiving a control signal, the ID register being configured to store the N-bit data as an assigned ID in response to the received control signal, the received control signal being produced in response to the output enable signal.