Patent ID: 8145812

Claim:
A device comprising: a programmable system including programmable analog and digital components that, when configured by a processing device, implement a line driver to transmit differential signals over multiple drive lines and a line receiver to receive differential signals over multiple receive lines, wherein the programmable analog and digital components are configured to implement a digital communication device, wherein the programmable analog and digital components are configured to implement a comparator in the line receiver to generate a single-ended version of a differential signal based on the received differential signals and provide the single-ended signal to the digital communication device, wherein the line driver is configured to receive transmission data from the digital communication device, convert the transmission data into the differential signals, and provide differential signals to multiple output pads for transmission over the drive lines, wherein the comparator receives at least one of the differential signals directly as a first input, and wherein the programmable analog and digital components are configured to implement a multiplexer in the line receiver to select a second input for the comparator from multiple comparison signals including the other received differential signal, and wherein at least one of the comparison signals corresponds to a single-ended signal previously outputted by the comparator.