Appeal 2007-0439
Application 10/630260
Appellants’ invention relates to a configuration for integrated circuit
(IC) components in which the logic can be shared between components to
permit companion ICs to perform part of the interface with a bus. Each
component IC would greatly reduce its pin count under the shared logic,
resulting in a net reduction in the overall number of conductive pins, and
thus an overall savings in manufacturing costs. (Specification, page 2).
Claim 1, Claim 6, and Claim 11 are exemplary:
1. An integrated circuit component comprising:
a logic block capable of being configured to interface with a first
companion integrated circuit and to receive information that is
communicated from the first companion integrated circuit, which
information was communicated to the first companion integrated
circuit via a first portion of a system bus;
and a logic block capable of being configured to interface with
a second companion integrated circuit and to receive information that
is communicated from the second companion integrated circuit, which
information was communicated to the second companion integrated
circuit via a second portion of the system bus, wherein the first
companion integrated circuit and the second companion integrated
circuit are disposed in separate integrated circuit chips.
6. A system m which a plurality of companion integrated circuit
components collectively implement a logic function embodied in a
single, conventional integrated circuit component, comprising:
a host integrated circuit component communicating with other
integrated circuit components via a system bus;
a first integrated circuit component comprising logic for
interfacing with a first portion of system bus;
a second integrated circuit component comprising logic for
interfacing with a second portion of system bus;
a third integrated circuit component not directly coupled with
the system bus and comprising logic for communicating with the host
integrated circuit via the first and second integrated circuit
components, wherein the first integrated circuit component, the
2
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Last modified: September 9, 2013