Serial bus electrical termination control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9558144-B2
Application number	US-201414497925-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2014
Priority date	Sep 26, 2014
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

Some embodiments include apparatuses and methods having a node to couple to a serial bus, and a controller to provide a control signal to one of a first circuit path and a second circuit path in order to change electrical termination of a signal at the node between a first electrical termination through the first circuit path during a first mode of the controller and a second electrical termination through the second circuit path during a second mode of the controller. The controller can be arranged to provide the control signal to the first and second circuit paths during the first and second modes without providing another control signal from the controller to the first and second circuit paths during the first and second modes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a node to couple to a serial bus; and
a controller to provide a control signal to one of a first circuit path and a second circuit path in order to change electrical termination of a signal at the node between a first electrical termination through the first circuit path to a supply node during a first mode of the controller and a second electrical termination through the second circuit path during a second mode of the controller without providing another control signal from the controller to the first and second circuit paths during the first and second modes, the second circuit path including a diode, wherein the diode is arranged to be reversed biased when the signal at the node is terminated to the supply node.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the serial bus includes a Universal Serial Bus (USB).

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller includes a Universal Serial Bus (USB) controller, and the USB controller is arranged to operate as a USB host during the first mode and as a USB device during the second mode.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second circuit path is arranged to allow a USB unit to detect connection of the node and provide power to the controller if the controller is in an unpowered condition.

5. An apparatus comprising:
a node to couple to a Configuration Channel of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection;
a first circuit path to terminate a signal at the node to a first supply node; and
a second circuit path including a diode and a resistor to terminate the signal at the node to a second supply node, wherein the diode is arranged to be reversed biased when the signal at the node is terminated to the first supply node.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the diode is arranged to be forward biased when the signal at the node is terminated to the second supply node.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the first circuit path includes a current source coupled between the node and the first supply node.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the first supply node is arranged to couple to a positive voltage, and the second supply node is arranged to couple to ground.

9. An apparatus comprising:
a node to couple to a Configuration Channel of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection;
a first circuit path to terminate a signal at the node to a first supply node; and
a second circuit path including a diode and a resistor to terminate the signal at the node to a second supply node, wherein the first circuit path includes an additional diode coupled between the node and the first supply node.

10. An apparatus comprising:
a node to couple to a Configuration Channel of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection;
a first circuit path to terminate a signal at the node to a first supply node; and
a second circuit path including a diode and a resistor to terminate the signal at the node to a second supply node, wherein the first and second circuit paths include only one transistor between the node and one of the first and second supply nodes, wherein the diode is arranged to be reversed biased when the signal at the node is terminated to the first supply node.

11. An apparatus comprising:
a node to couple to a Configuration Channel of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection to receive a signal;
a USB controller to provide a control signal to one of a first circuit path and a second circuit path in order to change electrical termination of a signal at the node between a first electrical termination through the first circuit path to a first supply node during USB host mode of the USB controller and a second electrical termination through the second circuit path during USB device mode of the USB controller, wherein the USB controller is arranged to provide the control signal to the first and second circuit paths during the USB host and device modes without providing another control signal from the USB controller to the first and second circuit paths during the USB host and device modes, the second circuit path including a diode, wherein the diode is arranged to be reversed biased when the signal at the node is terminated to the first supply node;
a processor coupled to the USB controller; and
an antenna coupled to the processor.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising a USB connector having a first Configuration Channel (CC1) pin and a second Configuration Channel (CC2) pin, wherein the node is coupled to one of the CC1 and CC2 pins.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the second circuit path is arranged to terminate the signal at the node to a second supply node through a resistor included in the second circuit path when the USB controller is a powered condition, and the second circuit path is arranged to terminate the signal at the node to the second supply node through the resistor when the USB controller is in an unpowered condition.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein one of the first and second circuit paths includes a transistor and a resistor, and at least one of the transistor and the resistor is included in the USB controller.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising a circuit board, wherein one of the first and second circuit paths includes a transistor and a resistor; and at least one of the transistor and the resistor is located on the circuit board.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising:
an additional node to couple to the Configuration Channel; and
wherein the USB controller is arranged to provide the control signal to one of a third circuit path and a fourth circuit path in order to change electrical termination of a signal at the additional node between a third electrical termination through the third circuit path during the USB host mode and a fourth electrical termination through the fourth circuit path during the USB device mode, wherein the USB controller is arranged to provide the control signal to the third and fourth circuit paths during the USB host and device modes without providing another control signal from the USB controller to the third and fourth circuit paths during the USB host and device modes.

17. A method comprising:
terminating a signal at a node to a first supply node through a first circuit path during a first mode of a USB controller; and
terminating the signal at the node to a second supply node through a second circuit path during a second mode of the USB controller, wherein terminating the signal during the first and second modes includes providing a control signal from the USB controller to the first and second circuit paths during the first and second modes to control at least one transistor in the first and second circuit paths without providing another control signal from the USB controller to the first and second circuit paths during the first and second modes, and causing a diode of the second circuit path to be reversed biased when the signal at the node is terminated to the first supply node.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
providing power to a first pin of a USB connector during the first mode, wherein the node is coupled to a second pin of the USB connector, and the second pin includes a Configuration Channel pin of the USB connector.

19. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
receiving power from a first pin of a USB connector during the second mode, wherein the node is coupled to a second pin of the USB connector, and the second pin includes a Configuration Channel pin of the USB connector.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Nge Chee Lim
• Schiff Tod
• Dibbad Vijayakumar
• Hallberg Alan

Classifications

• G06F13/4068

  Electrical coupling · CPC title

• G06F13/382

  using universal interface adapter · CPC title

• G06F13/4282 Primary

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

• G06F13/385 Primary

  for adaptation of a particular data processing system to different peripheral devices · CPC title