Serial bus electrical termination control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9916272-B2
Application number	US-201715419443-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2017
Priority date	Sep 26, 2014
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

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;
a first circuit path coupled to the node, the first circuit path including a first diode having a cathode coupled to the node;
a second circuit path coupled to the node, the second circuit path including a second diode having an anode coupled to the node; and
a controller to provide a control signal 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.

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 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 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. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the node is configured to couple to a Configuration Channel (CC 1 ) pin of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the node is configured to couple to a Configuration Channel (CC 2 ) pin of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the serial bus is a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection, and the node is to couple to a Configuration Channel of the USB.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the second diode includes a cathode coupled to a supply node through a resistor.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first circuit path includes a current source coupled between the node and a supply node.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first circuit path includes a resistor coupled between the first diode and the node.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the first circuit path further includes a transistor coupled between a supply node and an anode of the first diode.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first circuit path includes a switch coupled in series between the node and a supply node.

13. An apparatus comprising:
a node to couple to a Configuration Channel of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) type-C connection to receive a signal;
a USB controller to provide a control signal in order to change electrical termination of a signal at the node between a first electrical termination through a first circuit path during USB host mode of the USB controller and a second electrical termination through a second circuit path during USB device mode of the USB controller, the first circuit path including a first diode having a cathode coupled to the node, the second circuit path including a second diode having a cathode coupled to the node;
a processor coupled to the USB controller; and
an antenna coupled to the processor.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising:
an additional node to couple to the Configuration Channel; and
wherein the USB controller is also to provide the control signal in order to change electrical termination of a signal at the additional node between a third electrical termination through a third circuit path during the USB host mode and a fourth electrical termination through a fourth circuit path during the USB device mode.

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

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , 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.

17. A method comprising:
terminating a node to a first supply node through a first circuit path during a first mode of a USB controller; and
terminating the node to a second supply node through a second circuit path during a second mode of the USB controller, wherein terminating the node includes providing a control signal to control termination of the node to the first supply node and to control termination of the node to the second supply node, the first circuit path including a first diode having a cathode coupled to the node, the second circuit path including a second diode having a cathode coupled to the 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

• G06F13/382

  using universal interface adapter · CPC title

• G06F13/4068

  Electrical coupling · CPC title

• G06F13/4282

  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