Controller, control method, and control program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11281271-B2
Application number	US-201916596033-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 8, 2019
Priority date	Nov 29, 2018
Publication date	Mar 22, 2022
Grant date	Mar 22, 2022

Abstract

The present invention solves a new problem that may occur when Try.SRC or Try.SNK is adopted. A controller is used to implement a DRP-compliant device that can be both power supply side and power reception side according to the USB Type-C standard. The controller is configured to be able to execute a first process of determining whether or not the Port Power Role of the opposing device is Try.SRC when the Power Role of the own device is determined to be Sink meaning the power receiver according to the sequence with the opposing device, which is the connected device, and a second process of switching the Port Power Role of the own device to SRC only and continuing the sequence with the opposing device if the Port Power Role of the opposing device is Try.SRC.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A controller for controlling an own device that supports a DRP (Dual Role Power) in which a power role of the own device after connecting to an opposing device can be switched between a power supply side (SRC) and a power reception side (SNK) according to a USB (Universal Serial Bus) Type-C standard, wherein the controller is configured to:
upon detecting a connection between the own device and the opposing device, determine that a power role of the own device is the power reception side (SNK);
when the power role of the own device is determined to be the power reception side (SNK), execute a first process of determining whether a port power role of the opposing device is Try.SRC; and
when the port power role of the opposing device is determined to be Try.SRC, execute a second process of setting a port power role of the own device to SRC Only to execute a sequence between the own device and the opposing device.

2. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein the second process includes a third process of opening a communication line between the own device and the opposing device to electrically connect the own device to the opposing device.

3. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein the first process includes a fourth process of determining whether the port power role of the opposing device is Try.SRC based on a state transition path taken by the own device until the power role of the own device is determined to be SNK.

4. The controller according to claim 3 , wherein the state transition path taken by the own device until the power role of the own device is determined to be SNK includes Attached.SRC, TryWait.SNK, and Attached.SNK in a mentioned order.

5. The controller according to claim 1 , wherein the first process includes waiting for a predetermined period of time after the port power role of the opposing device is determined to be Try.SRC.

6. The controller according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first process comprises a fifth process of determining whether the opposing device supports USB Power Delivery, and
wherein the controller performs the second process when the opposing device is determined to not support USB Power Delivery in the fifth process.

7. The controller according to claim 6 ,
wherein the first process includes 1) a sixth process of transmitting a power role swap request to the opposing device and 2) a seventh process of determining whether to receive a reject from the opposing device, and
wherein the controller executes the second process upon receiving the reject from the opposing device.

8. A non-transitory, computer readable medium storing a control program that, when executed by a processor of a controller for controlling an own device that supports a DRP (Dual Role Power) in which a power role of the own device after connecting to an opposing device can be switched between a power supply side (SRC) and a power reception side (SNK) according to a USB (Universal Serial Bus) Type-C standard, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:
upon detecting a connection between the own device and the opposing device, determining that a power role of the own device is the power reception side (SNK);
when the power role of the own device is determined to be the power reception side (SNK), determining whether a port power role of the opposing device is Try.SRC based on a state transition path taken by the own device until the power role of the own device is determined to be SNK includes Attached.SRC, TryWait.SNK, and Attached.SNK in a mentioned order; and
when the port power role of the opposing device is determined to be Try.SRC, setting a port power role of the own device to SRC Only to execute a sequence between the own device and the opposing device.

Assignees

• Renesas Electronics Corp

Inventors

• Aoki Dan

Classifications

• G06F2213/0042

  Universal serial bus [USB] · CPC title

• G06F1/266 Primary

  Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips · CPC title

• G06F1/263 Primary

  Arrangements for using multiple switchable power supplies, e.g. battery and AC (G06F1/30 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F13/4282 Primary

  on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus (on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247) · CPC title

• Y02D10/00

  Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management · CPC title