Physical layer adapted for EHF contactless communication
A Physical Layer (PHY) of a host system of an electronic device may be implemented as a contactless PHY (Host-cPHY) for extremely high frequency (EHF) contactless communication and the operation of EHF transmitters (TX), receivers (RX) and transceivers (EHF-XCVR) in an extremely high frequency integrated circuit (EHF IC) of the electronic device. The Host-cPHY translates logical communications requests from the Link Layer (LINK) into hardware-specific operations to affect transmission or reception of signals over an EHF contactless link). The Link Layer (LINK) may also be optimized as a contactless Link Layer (cLINK) for EHF contactless communication. Multiple data streams may be transported over the EHF contactless link over a range of frequencies.
1. A first electronic device, comprising:
an EHF contactless EHF IC comprising at least one transceiver (EHF-XCVR) and capable of communicating over a contactless link with a second electronic device;
a plurality of Link Layers (LINK);
a plurality of contactless Physical Layers (cPHY) coupled to the EHF IC, wherein each one of the plurality of Physical Layers (cPHY) is coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of Link Layers (LINK), and wherein the plurality of Link Layers (LINK) and Physical Layers (cPHY) enable the first electronic device to send and receive data over the contactless link, wherein the contactless link comprises a plurality of channels, and wherein the data sent and received exist in multiple data streams that are communicated over the contactless link using one or more or all of the plurality of channels.
2. The first electronic device of claim 1 , wherein each one of the multiple data streams corresponds to a unique frequency that serves as one of the multiple channels.
3. The first electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising a high-speed interface that is coupled to the plurality of Link Layers (LINK), wherein when a high-speed data stream is received via the high-speed interface, and wherein the high-speed data stream is split into at least two contactless data streams by one of the plurality of Link Layers (LINK) and the plurality of contactless Physical Layers (cPHY).
4. The first electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the at least two contactless data streams are transmitted over the contactless link to the second electronic device and, wherein the second electronic device combines the at least two or more data streams into a high-speed data stream for use by the second electronic device.
5. The first electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the at least two contactless data streams are transmitted via the EHF IC.
6. The first electronic device of claim 4 , further comprising a second EHF contactless EHF IC comprising at least one transceiver (EHF-XCVR) and capable of communicating over a contactless link with the second electronic device, the second EHF IC coupled to the plurality of contactless Physical Layers (cPHY), and wherein the at least two contactless data streams are transmitted via the EHF IC and the second EHF IC.
7. The first electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the Link Layers (LINK) are contactless Link Layers (cLINK).
8. The first electronic device of claim 1 , wherein each of the cPHY layers define interface specifications and medium requirements for sending and receiving signals over the contactless link.
9. The first electronic device of claim 8 , further comprising Standards-based PHY and LINK layers.
10. The first electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the cPHY is capable of performing at least one of:
directly driving and controlling an EHF IC;
implementing the transfer of data over the EHF contactless link;
allowing a host system to implement additional functionality comprising one or more of power management, encryption, digital rights management, and vibration detection; performing encoding to control the EHF IC; performing power management; optimizing performance of the EHF contactless link; performing presence detection; encrypting/decrypting data;
determining and establishing optimum timing and levels for an EHF signal being sent via the EHF IC over the transmission medium;
adjusting voltage levels between a host system and the EHF IC;
translating an output of the LINK layer to a format suitable for interfacing with and being transmitted over the EHF contactless link;
enabling at least one of polling, beaconing and security; and
optimizing behavior of a communication, from end-to-end, along an entire path from the host system of the electronic device to a host system of the other electronic device.