Electronic device and method for determining defect in an electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10088515-B2
Application number	US-201514918857-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 21, 2015
Priority date	Oct 22, 2014
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an electronic device may comprise an external device connector having at least one connection sensing pin to sense connection to at least one external device connector, a voltage sensor measuring a voltage at the at least one connection sensing pin and a controller determining that a defect occurs when the voltage measured by the voltage sensor meets a preset condition. Other various embodiments are also provided herein.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device, comprising:
an external device connector having at least one connection sensing pin to sense connection to at least one external electronic device;
a voltage sensor measuring a voltage at the at least one connection sensing pin; and
a controller determining that a defect occurs when the voltage measured by the voltage sensor meets a preset condition,
wherein the controller repeatedly performs the determination at a preset period when determining that the defect exists in the external device connector, and controls to perform a preset operation when the defect is determined to last for a predetermined time or longer.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the connection sensing pin is at least one of an identification (ID) pin, a configuration channel one (CC 1 ) pin, a configuration channel two (CC 2 ) pin, or a ground pin.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first pull-up resistor connected to a D+ pin configured to communicate data from the external device connector; and
a first switch disposed between the D+ pin configured to communicate data and the first pull-up resistor.

4. The electronic device of claim 3 , further comprising:
a second pull-up resistor connected to the at least one connection sensing pin of the external device connector; and
a second switch disposed between the at least one connection sensing pin and the second pull-up resistor.

5. The electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the controller compares a first threshold with the voltage measured at the at least one connection sensing pin when the first switch is in an OFF state, and the second switch is in an ON state, and when the measured voltage is not more than the first threshold, the controller determines that the external electronic device is connected with the external electronic device.

6. The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the controller compares a second threshold with the voltage measured at the at least one connection sensing pin when the first switch is in the ON state, and the second switch is in the OFF state, and when the measured voltage is not less than the second threshold, the controller determines that a defect exists in the external device connector.

7. The electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the controller generates a control signal to turn on or off of the first switch or the second switch.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the controller controls to perform a preset operation corresponding to a defect occurrence.

9. The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the controller powers off the external electronic device corresponding to the defect occurrence.

10. The electronic device of claim 8 , further comprising a display displaying on a screen whether a defect exists corresponding to the defect existence under control of the controller.

11. A method for determining a defect in an electronic device, the method comprising:
comparing a preset voltage with a voltage measured at, at least one connection sensing pin provided in an external device connector to sense connection to at least one external electronic device;
determining that a defect exists when a result of a determination meets a preset condition, wherein the determination is repeatedly performed at a preset period when a defect is determined to exist in the external device connector; and
performing a preset operation when the defect is determined to last for a predetermined time or longer.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the connection sensing pin is at least one of an identification (ID) pin, a configuration channel one (CC 1 ) pin, a configuration channel two (CC 2 ) pin, or a ground pin.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein a first pull-up resistor is connected to a D+ pin configured to communicate data from the external device connector, and wherein a first switch is disposed between the D+ pin configured to communicate data and the first pull-up resistor.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein a second pull-up resistor is connected to the at least one connection sensing pin of the external device connector, and wherein a second switch is disposed between the at least one connection sensing pin and the second pull-up resistor.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
comparing a first threshold with the voltage measured at the at least one connection sensing pin when the first switch is in an OFF state, and the second switch is in an ON state; and
when the measured voltage is not more than the first threshold, determining that the external electronic device is connected with the external device connector.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
comparing a second threshold with the voltage measured at the at least one connection sensing pin when the first switch is in an ON state, and the second switch is in an OFF state; and
when the measured voltage is not less than the second threshold, determining that a defect exists in the external device connector.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising generating a control signal to turn on or off of the first switch or the second switch.

18. The method of claim 12 , further comprising, when the defect is determined to exist, performing a preset operation corresponding to an occurrence of the defect.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the preset operation includes powering off the external electronic device.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the preset operation includes displaying on a screen a defect that the defect exists.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Sung-Su

Classifications

• G01R31/69 Primary

  of terminals at the end of a cable or a wire harness; of plugs; of sockets, e.g. wall sockets or power sockets in appliances · CPC title

• G01R31/045 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic