The TSB41BA3F-EP implements the PHY-LLC interface specified in the 1394b Supplement. This interface is based on the interface described in Section 17 of IEEE 1394b-2002. When using an LLC that is compliant with the IEEE 1394b-2002 interface, the BMODE input must be tied high.
The TSB41BA3F-EP also functions with an LLC that
is compliant with the older 1394 standards. This interface is compatible with both
the older Annex J interface specified in the IEEE Std 1394-1995 (with the exception
of the Annex J isolation interfacing method) and the PHY-LLC interface specified in
1394a-2000. When using an LLC that is not compliant with the IEEE 1394b-2002
interface, the BMODE input must be tied low.
When the BMODE input is tied low, the TSB41BA3F-EP implements the PHY-LLC interface specified in the 1394a-2000 Supplement. This interface is based on the interface described in informative Annex J of IEEE Std 1394-1995, which is the interface used in the oldest Texas Instruments PHY devices. The PHY-LLC interface specified in 1394a-2000 is compatible with the older Annex J. However, the TSB41BA3F-EP does not support the Annex J isolation interfacing method. When implementing the 1394a-2000 interface, certain signals are not used:
- The PINT output (terminal 1) can be left open.
- The LCLK_PMC input (terminal 7) must be tied directly to ground or through a pulldown resistor of ~1 kΩ or less, unless the PMC mode is desired (see LCLK_PMC terminal description).
All other signals are connected to their counterparts on the 1394a link-layer controller. The PCLK output corresponds to the SCLK input signal on most LLCs.
The 1394a-2000 Supplement includes enhancements to the Annex J interface that should be comprehended when using the TSB41BA3F-EP with a 1394-1995 LLC device.
- A new LLC service request was added which allows the LLC to temporarily enable and disable asynchronous arbitration accelerations. If the LLC does not implement this new service request, then the arbitration enhancements must not be enabled (see the EAA bit in PHY register 5).
- The capability to perform multispeed concatenation (the concatenation of packets of differing speeds) was added in order to improve bus efficiency (primarily during isochronous transmission). If the LLC does not support multispeed concatenation, then multispeed concatenation must not be enabled in the PHY (see the EMC bit in PHY register 5).
- In order to accommodate the higher transmission speeds expected in future revisions of the standard, 1394a-2000 extended the speed code in bus requests from 2 bits to 3 bits, increasing the length of the bus request from 7 bits to 8 bits. The new speed codes were carefully selected so that new 1394a-2000 PHY and LLC devices would be compatible, for speeds from S100 to S400, with legacy PHY and LLC devices that use the 2-bit speed codes. The TSB41BA3F-EP correctly interprets both 7-bit bus requests (with 2-bit speed code) and 8-bit bus requests (with 3-bit speed codes). Moreover, if a 7-bit bus request is immediately followed by another request (for example, a register read or write request), then the TSB41BA3F-EP correctly interprets both requests. Although the TSB41BA3F-EP correctly interprets 8-bit bus requests, a request with a speed code exceeding S400 while in 1394a-2000 PHY-link interface mode results in the TSB41BA3F-EP transmitting a null packet (data prefix followed by data end, with no data in the packet).