Patent ID: 7639045

Claim:
A method for bi-directional buffering, comprising: (a) using at least a first pair of one-shots and a first pair of transistors, including a pull-up transistor and a pull-down transistor, to enable a second input/output (I/O) terminal to follow a first I/O terminal; (b) using at least a second pair of one-shots and a second pair of transistors, including a pull-up transistor and a pull-down transistor, to enable the first I/O terminal to follow the second I/O terminal; (c) detecting whether a direction of a signal is from the first I/O terminal to the second I/O terminal, or vise versa from the second I/O terminal to the first I/O terminal; (d) in response to detecting that the direction of the signal is from the first I/O terminal to the second I/O terminal, at least temporarily disabling the second pair of one-shots while the direction of the signal is from the first I/O terminal to the second I/O terminal to thereby reduce feedback that may occur from the second I/O terminal to the first I/O terminal; and (e) in response to detecting that the direction of the signal is from the second I/O terminal to the first I/O terminal, at least temporarily disabling the first pair of one-shots while the direction of the signal is from the second I/O terminal to the first I/O terminal to thereby reduce feedback that may occur from the first I/O terminal to the second I/O terminal.