Binary Countdown Integrated Circuit

The trend of dramatically increasing the embedded electronics content of automobiles, elevators, jet engines, and other traditionally electro-mechanically controlled systems is accompanied by a proliferation of subsystems having separate central processing units (CPUs). The demand for a means of communication to coordinate action among multiple CPUs is driving the increased reliance on chip-based communication protocols. Known formally as a binary countdown circuit, a counter is an integrated circuit that is often used to provide protocol for wired or wireless communication systems such as local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANS).