Visual indication of cable connection status

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9619979-B1
Application number	US-201615014159-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Feb 3, 2016
Priority date	Feb 3, 2016
Publication date	Apr 11, 2017
Grant date	Apr 11, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing a visual indication of cable connection status. A method may include determining whether an Information Handling System (IHS) has established data communications using one of a plurality of different types of protocols supported by a cable and providing, on the cable, a visual indication of the type of protocol being used and/or an amount of power delivered via the cable. A cable may include a plurality of conductors, a controller coupled to the plurality of conductors, and a plurality of LEDs coupled to the controller. The controller may: determine whether an IHS coupled to the cable has established data communication with another device via the cable using one of a plurality of different types of protocols supported by the cable; and provide a visual indication of the type of protocol being used in the data communication and/or power delivered via the cable.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
determining whether an Information Handling System (IHS) has established data communications using one of a plurality of different types of protocols supported by a cable;
providing, on the cable, a visual indication of the type of protocol being used in the data communications;
determining whether the IHS has established different data communications concurrently with the data communications, wherein the different data communications use a different type of protocol supported by the cable; and
providing, on the cable and concurrently with the visual indication, another visual indication of the different type of protocol.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cable includes a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Type-C cable, and wherein the different types of protocols include Thunderbolt, Display Port, and USB.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data communications is determined to be performed between the IHS and a docking station.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the IHS has established data communications includes determining, by a controller within the cable, that the data communications have been successfully negotiated with the IHS.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cable includes a light-emitting diode (LED) corresponding to each of the different types of protocol, and wherein providing the visual indication includes lighting up an LED corresponding to the type of protocol being used in the data communications.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising providing, on the cable, a visual indication of a speed of the data communications.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising causing the LED corresponding to the type of protocol being used in the data communications to blink at different rates corresponding to the speed.

8. The method of claim 5 , further comprising providing, on the cable, a visual indication of an amount of electrical power being provided via the cable.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising causing the LED corresponding to the type of protocol being used in the data communications to blink at different rates corresponding to the amount of electrical power.

10. The method of claim 5 , further comprising causing the LED corresponding to the type of protocol being used in the data communications to have a level of brightness corresponding to an amount of electrical power being provided via the cable or to a speed of the data communications.

11. A cable, comprising:
a plurality of conductors;
a controller coupled to the plurality of conductors; and
a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) coupled to the controller, the controller having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by the controller, cause the controller to:
determine whether an Information Handling System (IHS) coupled to the cable has established data communication with another device via the cable using one of a plurality of different types of protocols supported by the cable;
provide, using a selected one of the plurality of LEDs, a visual indication of the type of protocol being used in the data communication;
determine whether the IHS has established different data communications concurrently with the data communications, wherein the different data communications use a different type of protocol; and
provide, on the cable and concurrently with the visual indication, another visual indication of the different type of protocol.

12. The cable of claim 11 , wherein the controller includes a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Type-C port controller.

13. The cable of claim 11 , wherein the different types of protocols include Thunderbolt, Display Port, and Universal Serial Bus (USB).

14. The cable of claim 11 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the controller to determine that the data communication has been successfully negotiated between the IHS and the other device.

15. The cable of claim 11 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the controller to provide, via the selected LED, a visual indication of a speed of the data communication or of an amount of electrical power being provided to or from the IHS via the cable.

16. The cable of claim 11 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the controller to cause the selected LED to blink at a rate corresponding to the speed or the amount of electrical power.

17. A controller configured to execute program instructions stored in a memory that, upon execution, cause the controller to:
determine whether an Information Handling System (IHS) coupled to a first connector of cable has established data communication with another device coupled to a second connector of the cable using one of a plurality of different types of protocols supported by the cable;
provide, using a selected one of a plurality of LEDs disposed on at least one of the first of second connectors, a visual indication of the type of protocol being used in the data communication;
determine whether the IHS has established different data communications concurrently with the data communications, wherein the different data communications use a different type of protocol; and
provide, on the cable and concurrently with the visual indication, another visual indication of the different type of protocol.

18. The controller of claim 17 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the controller to provide, via the selected LED, a visual indication of at least one of: (a) a speed of the data communication, or (b) an amount of electrical power being provided to or from the IHS via the cable.

19. The controller of claim 17 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the controller to make the selected LED blink at a rate corresponding to the speed or the amount of electrical power.

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Montero Adolfo S
• Nowak Marcin M

Classifications

• H04L69/03

  Protocol definition or specification  (protocol conformance testing H04L1/244) · CPC title

• G06F1/1632

  External expansion units, e.g. docking stations · CPC title

• G06F13/4282

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

• G06F11/325 Primary

  by lamps or LED's · CPC title

• G06F11/3041

  where the computing system component is an input/output interface (interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units G06F13/00) · CPC title