Date: 5/25/04
SP3223U/3243U +3.0V to +5.5V RS-232 Transceivers
17
Copyright 2004 Sipex Corporation
AUTO ON-LINE
Circuitry
The SP3223U
and
SP3243U devices have a
patent pending AUTO ON-LINE
circuitry on
board that saves power in applications such as
laptop computers, palmtop (PDA) computers
and other portable systems.
The SP3223U and SP3243U
devices
incorporate an AUTO ON-LINE
circuit that
automatically enables itself when the external
transmitters are enabled and the cable is
connected. Conversely, the AUTO ON-LINE
circuit also disables most of the internal circuitry
when the device is not being used and goes into
a standby mode where the device typically draws
1mA. This function can also be externally
controlled by the ONLINE pin. When this pin is
tied to a logic LOW, the AUTO ON-LINE
function is active. Once active, the device is
enabled until there is no activity on the receiver
inputs. The receiver input typically sees at least
+3V, which are generated from the transmitters
at the other end of the cable with a +5V
minimum. When the external transmitters are
disabled or the cable is disconnected, the
receiver inputs will be pulled down by their
internal 5k
resistors to ground. When this
occurs over a period of time, the internal
transmitters will be disabled and the device goes
into a shutdown or standy mode. When ONLINE
is HIGH, the AUTO ON-LINE
mode is dis-
abled.
The AUTO ON-LINE
circuit has two stages:
1) Inactive Detection
2) Accumulated Delay
The first stage, shown in Figure 28, detects an
inactive input. A logic HIGH is asserted on
R
INACT if the cable is disconnected or the
external transmitters are disabled. Otherwise,
R
INACT will be at a logic LOW. This circuit
is duplicated for each of the other receivers.
The second stage of the AUTO ON-LINE
cir-
cuitry, shown in Figure 29, processes all the
receiver's R
INACT signals with an accumu-
lated delay that disables the device to a 1
μ
A
supply current.
The STATUS pin goes to a logic LOW when the
cable is disconnected, the external transmitters
are disabled, or the SHUTDOWN pin is
invoked. The typical accumulated delay is
around 20
μ
s.
When the SP3223U and SP3243U drivers or
internal charge pump are disabled, the supply
current is reduced to 1
μ
A. This can commonly
occur in hand-held or portable applications where
the RS-232 cable is disconnected or the RS-232
drivers of the connected peripheral are turned off.
The AUTO ON-LINE
mode can be disabled by
the SHUTDOWN pin. If this pin is a logic LOW,
the AUTO ON-LINE
function will not operate
regardless of the logic state of the ONLINE pin.
Table 3 summarizes the logic of the AUTO ON-
LINE
operating modes. The truth table logic of
the SP3223U and SP3243U driver and receiver
outputs can be found in Table 2.
The STATUS pin outputs a logic LOW signal
if the device is shutdown. This pin goes to a
logic HIGH when the external transmitters are
enabled and the cable is connected.
When the SP3223U
and SP3243U
devices
are shut down, the charge pumps are turned off.
V+ charge pump output decays to V
, the
V- output decays to GND. The decay time will
depend on the size of capacitors used for the
charge pump. Once in shutdown, the time
required to exit the shut down state and have
valid V+ and V- levels is typically 200
μ
s.
For easy programming, the STATUS can be
used to indicate DTR or a Ring Indicator signal.
Tying ONLINE and SHUTDOWN together
will bypass the AUTO ON-LINE
circuitry so
this connection acts like a shutdown input pin.