Device and method of detecting leakage current generation condition in USB interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10859640-B2
Application number	US-201816025335-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 2, 2018
Priority date	Sep 12, 2017
Publication date	Dec 8, 2020
Grant date	Dec 8, 2020

Abstract

A device for detecting a leakage current generation condition in a universal serial bus (USB) interface including at least one pull-up circuit connected to the at least one power pin, and a port controller configured to detect at least one impedance between a ground pin and at least one power pin, detect a leakage current generation condition in the at least one power pin based on the at least one impedance detected, and activate a detection signal in response to the leakage current generation condition being detected, the port controller configured to detect the at least one impedance by controlling the at least one pull-up circuit to pull up the at least one power pin and detecting a voltage of the at least one power pin may be provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device for detecting a leakage current generation condition in a universal serial bus (USB) interface, the device comprising:
at least one pull-up circuit connected to at least one power pin; and
a port controller configured to detect at least one impedance between a ground pin and the at least one power pin, detect a leakage current generation condition in the at least one power pin based on the at least one impedance detected, and activate a detection signal in response to the leakage current generation condition being detected, the port controller configured to detect the at least one impedance by controlling the at least one pull-up circuit to pull up the at least one power pin and detecting a voltage of the at least one power pin,
wherein the pull-up circuit comprises a channel configuration (CC) pull-up circuit connected to at least one CC pin,
the port controller is configured to detect a CC impedance between the ground pin and the at least one CC pin by controlling the CC pull-up circuit to pull up the at least one CC pin and detecting a voltage of the at least one CC pin,
the CC pull-up circuit comprises a CC current source configured to supply source CC termination (Rp) currents to the at least one CC pin, and
the port controller is further configured to control the CC current source to supply one of the source CC termination (Rp) currents to the at least one CC pin to detect the CC impedance.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one power pin comprises at least one of a CC 1 pin for communicating a first channel configuration signal, a CC 2 pin for communicating a second channel configuration signal, and a VBUS pin for receiving a cable bus power.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the port controller is further configured to activate the detection signal in response to the CC impedance being less than a power cable termination (Ra) resistance.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the port controller is further configured to control the CC current source to supply the largest one of the source CC termination (Rp) currents to the at least one CC pin to detect the CC impedance.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the port controller is further configured to detect each of a first CC impedance between a CC 1 pin and the ground pin and a second CC impedance between a CC 2 pin and the ground pin, and generate the detection signal based on the first and second CC impedances.

6. The device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a VCONN switch configured to supply or interrupt a VCONN voltage to the at least one CC pin,
wherein the port controller is further configured to control the VCONN switch to interrupt supply of the VCONN voltage to the at least one CC pin in response to the detection signal activated.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the port controller is further configured to support a dual role port (DRP) capable of switching between a source and a sink and set a download faced port (DFP) before detecting the CC impedance.

8. The device of claim 1 , wherein
the pull-up circuit comprises a VBUS pull-up circuit and a VBUS detection switch connected between the VBUS pull-up circuit and a VBUS pin, and
the port controller is further configured to detect a VBUS impedance between the ground pin and the VBUS pin by turning on the VBUS detection switch and detecting a voltage of a node between the pull-up circuit and the VBUS detection switch.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein the VBUS pull-up circuit comprises a current source and the pull-up circuit further comprises a resistor connected between the current source and the VBUS detection switch.

10. The device of claim 8 , further comprising:
a VBUS switch configured to supply or interrupt a VBUS voltage to the VBUS pin,
wherein the port controller is further configured to control the VBUS switch to interrupt supply of the VBUS voltage to the VBUS pin in response to the detection signal activated.

11. The device of claim 1 , wherein the port controller is further configured to detect the impedance in a state where a connected counterpart USB entity is not detected.

12. The device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a main controller configured to output an alarm control signal in response to the detection signal activated, the alarm control signal being a signal recognizable by a user of the device.

13. The device of claim 1 , wherein the port controller is further configured to detect the impedance according to a period.

14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the port controller is further configured to support a dual role port (DRP) capable of switching between a source and a sink, and detect the impedance according to a toggling period from a sink state to a source state.

15. A device comprising:
a universal serial bus (USB) receptacle comprising a ground pin and at least one channel configuration (CC) pin;
a CC pull-up circuit connected to the at least one CC pin; and
a port controller configured to detect a CC impedance between the ground pin and the at least one CC pin by controlling the CC pull-up circuit to pull up the at least one CC pin, and activate a detection signal in response to a leakage current generation condition being detected in the USB receptacle based on the CC impedance detected,
wherein the CC pull-up circuit comprises a resistor sub-circuit configured to electrically connect source CC termination (Rp) pull-up resistors to the at least one CC pin, and
the port controller is further configured to control the resistor sub-circuit to detect the CC impedance such that one of the source CC termination (Rp) pull-up resistors is electrically connected to the at least one CC pin.

16. The device of claim 15 , wherein the port controller is further configured to control the resistor sub-circuit to detect the CC impedance such that a pull-up resistor having the smallest resistance among the source CC termination (Rp) pull-up resistors is electrically connected to the at least one CC pin.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ko Eun-Hye
• Kim Je-Kook

Classifications

• G01R31/50 Primary

  Testing of electric apparatus, lines, cables or components for short-circuits, continuity, leakage current or incorrect line connections (testing of sparking plugs H01T13/58) · CPC title

• G01R31/52 Primary

  Testing for short-circuits, leakage current or ground faults · CPC title

• 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

• G06F13/4086

  Bus impedance matching, e.g. termination · CPC title

• G01R27/18

  Measuring resistance to earth {, i.e. line to ground} · CPC title