Patent ID: 7212034
Filing Date: 2007-05-01
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. An electronic data processing circuit that uses current mode signalling, the circuit comprising: a data source circuit with an output for a logic signal; a data receiving circuit; a communication conductor; and a transition coding circuit coupled between the data source circuit and the communication conductor, for driving the communication conductor in a first state in pulses in response to transitions in the logic signal and in a second state outside the pulses, wherein the data receiving circuit comprises a current supply and measuring circuit coupled to the communication conductor for supplying a current to the communication conductor to counteract the driving of the communication conductor, the data processing circuit being constructed so that the current that needs to be supplied is smaller when the communication conductor is driven in the second state than when the communication conductor is driven in the first state, the current supply and measuring circuit recovering the logic signal from measurements of the current, and wherein the current supply and measuring circuit defines a threshold potential of the communication conductor at which the current substantially starts increasing from zero, the transition coding circuit and the current supply and measuring circuit being constructed so that the potential of the communication conductor remains at the threshold or on a substantially zero current side of said threshold when the transition coding circuit drives the communication conductor in the second state.