Chip and method for I2C bus expansion

Abstract

The invention discloses a chip used for I2C bus expansion. The chip comprises a register set used for storing port configuration information; the configurable port comprises a plurality of groups of I / O pins, and each group comprises three I / O pins; and a control unit, wherein the control chip is connected with the register block and the configurable port respectively; the I / O pins are used for independently configuring the working mode and the working state of each group of I / O pins according to the port configuration information, and when one group of I / O pins are configured to be in an I2Cworking mode, three I / O pins in the I / O pins are used for transmitting an I2C clock signal, an I2C data signal and an I2C alarm signal respectively; and when the group of I / O pins is configured into aGPIO working mode, three I / O pins in the group of I / O pins are respectively used for independently transmitting GPIO signals. The single-path I2C signal is expanded into the multi-path I2C signal andthe conversion expansion of the I2C signal and the GPIO signal by adopting the existing chip on the main board, and a special switching chip does not need to be additionally arranged on the main board, so that the design cost can be reduced, and the board card density and the design difficulty are reduced.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to the field of board design, more specifically, a chip and method for I2C bus expansion. Background technique [0002] The I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) bus is a simple, two-way two-wire synchronous serial bus developed by Philips. It uses the data line SDA and the clock line SCL to form a communication line. Each device can be connected to the bus in parallel to realize data transmission and reception. The devices are independent of each other and distinguished by a unique bus address, which has the advantages of less wiring, simple control methods, and high communication speed. [0003] The I2C bus not only has less wiring and simple control methods, but also is compatible with the SMBUS bus and the PMBUS bus. Therefore, the I2C bus is widely used inside the server for device management. Since the bus capacitance stipulated by the I2C bus protocol cannot exceed 400pF, only limited I2C devices can be mounted on an I2C bus. Wh...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0005] In view of this, the purpose of the embodiments of the present invention is to propose a chip and method for I2C bus expansion, which can solve the problems of high cost, difficult wiring and inability to effectively protect I2C signals in the prior art using external expansion chips

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