Ron M Harrison

US Patent:

6356106, Mar 12, 2002

Filed:

Sep 12, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/659334

Inventors:

Roy Greeff - Boise ID
Terry R. Lee - Boise ID
Ron Harrison - Boise ID

Assignee:

Micron Technology, Inc. - Boise ID

International Classification:

H03K 190175

US Classification:

326 30, 326 86, 326 90, 710101, 710126, 333 22 R, 333 32, 333 173

Abstract:

An active termination circuit is incorporated into the devices connected to a multidrop bus. By including the active termination circuit on the devices instead of the bus, termination resistors can be removed from the system PCB, which saves costs and frees up precious space on the PCB. The active termination circuit has a termination enabled state and a termination disabled state. The active termination circuit is selectively placed into the enabled or disabled states in specified devices depending upon, for example, device location or communication traffic on the bus. The multidrop system can also utilize a separate passive termination mechanism in combination with the active termination circuits utilized in the devices.