Patent ID: 6789136
Filing Date: 2004-09-07
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A method for obtaining device addresses over a line of a bus, comprising:sending a request, intended to read one or more device addresses, on the line, and then sending one or more sets of commands on the line, each set of commands being intended to read one device address; attempting to write a first address on the line in response to the request, by a first device driving one or more of a plurality of first bit values, which define the first address, on the line in response to a first set of commands, respectively; and if, while writing the first address, the line fails to display any one of the driven plurality of first bit values, because a second device is simultaneously writing a second address on the line in response to the request, then the first device stops writing the first address and does not write the first address again until after the second device has finished writing the second address, the first and second addresses uniquely identifying the first and second devices.