SSIC device and link control method for SSIC device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016360568-A1
Application number	US-201615132885-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 19, 2016
Priority date	Jun 5, 2015
Publication date	Dec 8, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An SSIC (SuperSpeed Inter-Chip) device comprises a detecting circuit operable to execute at least one of a first and a second detection processes and generate a detection result, wherein the first detection process is operable to detect an SSIC compatible object and the second detection process is operable to detect whether the SSIC compatible object satisfies at least one of a de-link state and a re-link state, a control circuit operable to generate a control signal according to the detection result, and a Mobile-Physical-Layer circuit operable to execute at least one of the following steps: if the control signal indicates that the SSIC compatible object is detected and satisfies the de-link state, disconnecting a normal connection between the SSIC device and the SSIC host; and if the control signal indicates that the SSIC compatible object is detected and satisfies the re-link state, connecting the SSIC device with the SSIC host.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An SSIC (SuperSpeed Inter-Chip) device capable of actively disconnecting a normal connection between the SSIC device and an SSIC host, comprising:
a detecting circuit operable to carry out at least one of a first detection process and a second detection process and generate a detection result accordingly, in which the first detection process is operable to detect an SSIC compatible object and the second detection process is operable to detect whether the SSIC compatible object satisfies a prescribed state including at least one of a de-link state and a re-link state; a control circuit operable to generate a control signal according to the detection result; and an M-PHY (Mobile Physical Layer) circuit operable to carry out at east one of several steps including the following steps:
when the control signal indicates that the SSIC compatible object is detected and satisfies the de-link state, actively disconnecting the normal connection between the SSIC device and the SSIC host according to the control signal; and
when the control signal indicates that the SSIC compatible object is detected and satisfies the re-link state, actively connecting the SSIC device with the SSIC host according to the control signal.

2 . The SSIC device of claim 1 , wherein the de-link state includes at least one of an unidentifiable state, a non-operational state and an externally-interrupted state, and when the control signal indicates that the SSIC compatible object is detected and satisfies the de-link state, the SSIC device actively disconnects the normal connection with the SSIC host while keeping a physical connection with the SSIC compatible object.

3 . The SSIC device of claim 1 , wherein the several steps further include a step of actively disconnecting the normal connection with the SSIC host according to the control signal when the control signal indicates that the SSIC compatible object is not detected.

4 . The SSIC device of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further operable to generate the control signal according to a current state of the SSIC device, and the several steps further include a step of keeping the normal connection with the SSIC host according to the control signal when the control signal indicates that the current state of the SSIC device is a sleeping-mode state and the SSIC compatible object is not detected.

5 . The SSIC device of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further operable to generate the control signal according to a current state of the SSIC device, and the several steps further include a step of establishing no connection with the SSIC host according to the control signal when the control signal indicates that the SSIC device does not connect with the SSIC host and the SSIC compatible object is not detected or conforms to the de-link state.

6 . The SSIC device of claim 1 , wherein the normal connection is associated with one of the following modes: an operation mode operable to make the SSIC device and the SSIC host execute normal transmission and reception; a first power-saving mode operable to reduce power consumption of the SSIC device; and a second power-saving mode operable to save the SSIC device more power in comparison with the first power-saving mode.

7 . The SSIC device of claim 1 , wherein both the SSIC device and the SSIC host are included in an SSIC system, and a physical connection relationship between the SSIC device and the SSIC host is kept unchanged regardless of the detection of the SSIC compatible object.

8 . An SSIC (SuperSpeed Inter-Chip) device link control method capable of actively disconnecting a normal connection between an SSIC device and an SSIC host, comprising:
carrying out at least one of a first detection process and a second detection process and thereby generating a detection result, in which the first detection process is operable to detect an SSIC compatible object and the second detection process is operable to detect whether the SSIC compatible object satisfies a prescribed state including at least one of a de-link state and a re-link state; generating a control signal according to the detection result; and carrying out at least one of several steps including the following steps:
when the control signal indicates that the SSIC compatible object is detected and satisfies the de-link state, actively disconnecting the normal connection between the SSIC device and the SSIC host according to the control signal; and
when the control signal indicates that the SSIC compatible object is detected and satisfies the re-link state, actively connecting the SSIC device with the SSIC host according to the control signal.

9 . The SSIC device link control method of claim 8 , wherein the de-link state includes at least one of an unidentifiable state, a non-operational state and an externally-interrupted state, and when the control signal indicates that the SSIC compatible object is detected and satisfies the de-link state, the SSIC device is made to actively disconnect the normal connection with the SSIC host while keeping a physical connection with the SSIC compatible object.

10 . The SSIC device link control method of claim 8 , wherein the several steps further include a step of actively disconnecting the normal connection with the SSIC host according to the control signal when the control signal indicates that the SSIC compatible object is not detected.

11 . The SSIC device link control method of claim 8 , wherein the step of generating the control signal includes a step of generating the control signal according to a current state of the SSIC device, and the several steps further include a step of keeping the normal connection with the SSIC host according to the control signal when the control signal indicates that the current state of the SSIC device is a sleeping-mode state and the SSW compatible object is not detected.

12 . The SSIC device link control method of claim 8 , wherein the step of generating the control signal includes a step of generating the control signal according to a current state of the SSIC device, and the several steps further include a step of establishing no connection with the SSIC host according to the control signal when the control signal indicates that the SSIC device does not connect with the SSIC host and the SSIC compatible object is not detected or conforms to the de-link state.

13 . The SSIC device link control method of claim 8 , wherein the normal connection is associated with one of the following modes: an operation mode operable to make the SSIC device and the SSIC host execute normal transmission and reception; a first power-saving mode operable to reduce power consumption of the SSIC device and allow the SSIC device to return to the operation mode within a first duration; and a second power-saving mode operable to reduce power consumption of the SSIC device and allow the SSIC device to return to the operation mode within a second duration which is longer than the first duration.

14 . The SSIC device link control method of claim 8 , wherein the step of actively disconnecting the normal connection between the SSIC device and the SSIC host is carried out by an M-PHY (Mobile Physical Layer) circuit of the SSIC device and includes the following steps:
making a transmitter of the M-PHY circuit of the SSIC device send an interruption request; after sending the interruption request, disabling the transmitter and a receiver of the M-PHY circuit of the SSIC device; and making an LTSSM (Link Training and Status State Machine) of the SSIC device enter a SuperSpeed Disabled state.

15 .

Assignees

• Realtek Semiconductor Corp

Inventors

• Qian Wei
• Jiang Guobing
• Shen Chen
• Lin Neng-Hsien

Classifications

• H04L67/143

  Termination or inactivation of sessions, e.g. event-controlled end of session · CPC title

• H04W52/0209 Primary

  in terminal devices · CPC title

• H04W76/028 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L69/323

  in the physical layer [OSI layer 1] · CPC title

• Y02D30/70

  in wireless communication networks · CPC title