CN111475453A - Universal serial bus expansion device and its debugging method - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a universal serial bus expansion device and a debugging method thereof. The universal serial bus expansion device comprises a connection port and a charging controller. The connection port is used for electrically connecting an external electronic device. The charging controller is electrically connected with the connecting port to receive the pin configuration signal and select to execute the first power transmission mode or the second power transmission mode according to the pin configuration signal. The charging controller executes a first power transmission mode and counts a first waiting time, wherein when the first waiting time is larger than or equal to a time critical value, the charging controller switches from the first power transmission mode to a second power transmission mode.

Description

Universal serial bus expansion device and its debugging method

technical field

The invention relates to an interface transmission technology, in particular to a universal serial bus expansion device and an error detection method thereof.

Background technique

Portable electronic devices have become an integral part of modern life. These electronic devices can be connected to each other through a communication interface for expansion. A common communication interface at present is Universal Serial Bus (Universal Serial Bus, USB). In the current USB protocol, the Type-C Universal Serial Bus (USB Type-C, also known as USB-C) can support multiple Dual Role Ports (DRP) and super-high-speed data transmission, and is used as a broadband A wide range of power input/output ports, so it has become a commonly used communication interface.

When two electronic devices are powered through the USB Type-C interface, it is necessary to determine one of them as the master device (Host) for supplying power, and the other as the slave device (Slave) for receiving power. However, sometimes the power roles between electronic devices can be exchanged, so there may be a problem of pairing failure and communication failure.

FIG. 3 is a pairing flow chart of a USB expansion device according to the prior art. Referring to FIG. 3 , in step S310 , the existing USB expansion device is electrically connected to an external electronic device to select to execute a power sink (Sink) mode or a power supply (Source) mode. In step S320, the USB expansion device executes the power draw mode, and in step S330, the USB expansion device executes the power supply mode. However, if the external electronic device is in a power-saving state and cannot supply power to the outside, the USB expansion device may have a problem in choosing to execute the power draw mode, and the step S340 cannot be entered from the step S320, resulting in the failure of the pairing between the two parties. Therefore, how to avoid misjudgment of power roles between electronic devices becomes an important issue.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a universal serial bus expansion device and a debugging method thereof, which can avoid failure of two electronic devices during power transmission, communication and pairing.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a universal serial bus expansion device, which includes a connection port and a charging controller. The connection port is used to electrically connect the external electronic device. The charging controller is electrically connected to the connection port to receive the pin configuration signal, and selects to execute the first power transfer mode or the second power transfer mode according to the pin configuration signal, wherein the charge controller executes the first power transfer mode and clocks the first power transfer mode. A waiting time, wherein when the first waiting time is greater than or equal to a time threshold, the charging controller switches from the first power transfer mode to the second power transfer mode.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the first power transfer mode of the USB expansion device is a power draw mode, and the second power transfer mode is a power supply mode.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in the aforementioned USB expansion device, after the charging controller switches from the first power transmission mode to the second power transmission mode, the external electronic device also executes the first power transmission mode correspondingly , so that the USB expansion unit can charge external electronic devices.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned USB expansion device charges the external electronic device according to the power delivery protocol.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in the aforementioned USB expansion device, the charging controller executes the second power transfer mode and counts a second waiting time, wherein the time threshold is set to be greater than the second waiting time.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in the aforementioned USB expansion device, when the first waiting time is greater than or equal to the time threshold, the charging controller executes the error recovery mode to re-enter the second power transmission mode.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a debugging method for a USB expansion device, including: electrically connecting an external electronic device through a connection port; receiving a pin configuration signal from the connection port to select to execute a first power transmission mode or a second power transmission mode A power transfer mode, wherein when the first power transfer mode is executed, a first waiting time is counted, wherein when the first waiting time is greater than or equal to a time threshold, switching from the first power transfer mode to the second power transfer mode is performed.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in the above-mentioned error detection method, the first power transfer mode is a power draw mode and the second power transfer mode is a power supply mode.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in the above-mentioned error detection method, the step of switching from the first power transmission mode to the second power transmission mode includes: when the first power transmission mode is selected to be executed, the external electronic device selects executing the second power transmission mode; and after the USB expansion device switches from the first power transmission mode to the second power transmission mode, the external electronic device also executes the first power transmission mode correspondingly, so as to enable the USB expansion The device charges external electronic devices.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in the above-mentioned debugging method, the USB expansion device charges the external electronic device according to the power delivery protocol.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in the above-mentioned error detection method, the step of selecting to execute the second power transmission mode includes: timing a second waiting time, wherein the time threshold is set to be greater than the second waiting time.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in the above-mentioned error detection method, the step of switching from the first power transmission mode to the second power transmission mode includes: executing an error recovery mode to re-enter the second power transmission mode.

Based on the above, the USB expansion device and its debugging method of the present invention can ensure that when two electronic devices with DRP function communicate on the interface, when the power role assignment is not appropriate, the power role can be automatically modified, so as to complete the two side power transmission communication.

In order to make the above-mentioned features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, the following embodiments are given and described in detail with the accompanying drawings as follows.

Description of drawings

1 is a schematic diagram of a universal serial bus expansion device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a flowchart of a method for debugging a USB expansion device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a pairing flow chart of a USB expansion device according to the prior art.

Description of reference numerals

100: USB expansion device

110: The first connection port

120: The second connection port

130: Charge Controller

140: memory chip

150: Timer

200: External Electronics

S210～S250: steps of the debugging method of the universal serial bus expansion device

S310～S340: Pairing steps of the existing Universal Serial Bus expansion device

Detailed ways

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a USB expansion device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The universal serial bus (USB dock) device 100 includes at least one connection port for connecting an electronic device, such as a Downstream Facing Port (DFP) or an Upstream Facing Port (UFP). Please refer to FIG. 1 , the USB expansion device 100 includes a first connection port 110 , a second connection port 120 and a charging controller 130 . The first connection port 110 is used to electrically connect the external electronic device 200 , and the second connection port 120 can electrically connect the USB expansion device 100 to other electronic devices or USB peripheral devices. In this embodiment, the first connection port 110 can support the USB Type C protocol and a dual role port (Dual Role Port, DRP), and the connection port of the external electronic device 200 also supports DRP.

The charging controller 130 is electrically connected to the first connection port 110 and the second connection port 120 . The charging controller 130 receives the pin configuration signal from the first connection port 110, and selects to execute the first power transmission mode or the second power transmission mode according to the pin configuration signal. Here, the first power transfer mode refers to a power sink mode, and the second power transfer mode refers to a power supply (Source) mode. The charging controller 130 may time the first waiting time when executing the first power transmission mode, wherein when the first waiting time is greater than or equal to the time threshold, it means that the external electronic device 200 may not be suitable for the role of the power source (Source) at present, The charging controller 130 switches from the first power transfer mode to the second power transfer mode.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for debugging a USB expansion device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The error detection method of FIG. 2 is applicable to the USB expansion device 100 of FIG. 1 . The following will further describe the implementation details of the USB expansion device 100 and the error detection method in conjunction with the components of FIG. 1 .

Specifically, the external electronic device 200 or the electronic device connected to the USB expansion device 100 may be a personal computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a media player, Digital cameras, camcorders, game consoles, etc., are not limited by the present invention.

The charging controller 130 may include a controller, a microcontroller, a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (Field Programmable Gate Array) Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) or other processing/control circuits. The USB expansion device 100 further includes a memory chip 140 coupled to the charging controller 130 . The memory chip 140 stores the power transfer firmware code. The charging controller 130 can execute the power transmission firmware code provided by the memory chip 140, thereby providing the control function of the power transmission. For example, the USB expansion device 100 can charge the external electronic device 200 according to the power delivery (PD) protocol, and can support various fast charging modes, which is not limited in the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2 , in step S210 , the USB expansion device 100 is electrically connected to the external electronic device 200 to select to execute the first power transfer mode or the second power transfer mode. The USB expansion device 100 is electrically connected to the external electronic device 200 through the first connection port 110 . The charging controller 130 may receive the pin configuration signal from the first connection port 110 to determine the state of the configuration channel pin (CC pin) of the first connection port 110 . For example, it is determined whether the first connection port 110 is connected to an external device (eg, the external electronic device 200 shown in FIG. 1 ). The USB expansion device 100 can also exchange configuration information with the external electronic device 200 via the configuration channel pins. According to the configuration information, the USB expansion device 100 and the external electronic device 200 can automatically perform an agreement to determine the power roles of the two parties.

If the USB expansion device 100 acts as the sink in power transmission, and the external electronic device 200 acts as the power source for power transmission, then step S220 is entered, the first power transmission mode is executed and the first waiting time is counted. During the process of executing the first power transmission mode, the charging controller 130 will determine or further detect the pin status of the first connection port 110 . The pins of the first connection port 110 may include differential signal pair input/output pins (TX/RX), bus power pin VBUS, ground pin GND, and configuration channel pair pins (CC1 and CC2 pins), etc. . The charging controller 130 will confirm that the first connection port 110 is converted from the unattached sink state (Unattached. SNK) to the connected sink state (Attached. SNK) to indicate that the pairing is successful, and the process goes to step S250 .

The charge controller 130 also includes a timer 150 . During the above process, the timer 150 will count, which is called the first waiting time. In step S230, the charging controller 130 continuously compares the first waiting time with the time threshold. If the first waiting time is equal to or greater than the time threshold, and the communication and pairing between the USB expansion device 100 and the external electronic device 200 has not been completed, the process proceeds to step S240 to switch to the second power transmission mode.

For example, the time threshold is set to 3 seconds (not limited in the present invention), the charging controller 130 selects to execute the first power transfer mode, and the external electronic device 200 selects to execute the second power transfer mode, that is, the external electronic device 200 is used as the power terminal , the USB expansion device 100 is used as the sink. When the charging controller 130 has not completed the communication and pairing for not less than three seconds, the charging controller 130 will switch from the first power transmission mode to the second power transmission mode. After the charging controller 130 switches from the first power transfer mode to the second power transfer mode, the external electronic device 200 also executes the first power transfer mode correspondingly. The external electronic device 200 is changed to be the sink terminal, and the USB expansion device 100 is used as the power terminal, so that the USB expansion device 100 can charge the external electronic device 200 .

It is added that in this embodiment, when the first waiting time is greater than or equal to the time threshold, the charging controller 130 will execute an error recovery (Error Recovery) mode to re-enter the second power transmission mode. When the connection confirmation of the sink state cannot be successfully completed, the error recovery mode of the USB expansion device 100 has the function of switching to the second power transmission mode, and the pins can be reassigned, so this function is different from the prior art.

In step S240 , the USB expansion device 100 executes the second power transmission mode, and the USB expansion device 100 acts as a power terminal in power transmission, and the external electronic device 200 acts as a sink terminal. After confirming that the first connection port 110 is transformed from the unattached state (Unattached. SRC) to the connected state (Attached. SRC), the process proceeds to step S250 to complete the pairing.

The charging controller 130 may count the second waiting time when executing the second power transfer mode, and the time threshold may be set to be greater than the second waiting time.

In the process of confirming the connected power terminal status (Attached. SRC) of the first connection port 110 , the timer 150 may also count to generate a second waiting time (this action may not be required in some embodiments). The second waiting time will have a corresponding time reference value, which represents the indicative time spent from step S240 to step S250. For example, the time reference value is the average time spent, or in normal operation, the second waiting time will not exceed this time reference value, etc. The time reference value will be smaller than the time threshold value in step S230. For example, if the time threshold is set to 3 seconds, the second waiting time takes 1 second, and the time threshold is 1.2 seconds.

Tables 1 and 2 are provided below to show the results of improving the power transmission communication failure rate between electronic devices according to the present invention. Table 1 shows the existing USB expansion device (please refer to Figure 3). When connecting an external electronic device, if the external electronic device is set to the power saving mode and cannot output power, a communication failure rate of 50% will occur. . Table 2 shows that when the USB expansion device 100 of the present invention is connected to the external electronic device 200, the pairing failure rate can be minimized. When the USB expansion device 100 is selected as the sink terminal, if the external electronic device 200 cannot be used as the power terminal, the USB expansion device 100 will automatically switch to the mode to successfully complete the pairing.

Table I

Table II

To sum up, in the USB expansion device and the error detection method of the present invention, when the power configuration relationship between the USB expansion device and the external electronic device is the first power transmission mode, the USB expansion device will generate the first power transmission mode at time. A waiting time. If the first waiting time is greater than the time threshold, the USB expansion device will automatically switch to the second power transfer mode to complete the power transfer configuration of both parties. In this way, failure of power role pairing between electronic devices can be avoided.

Although the present invention has been disclosed above with examples, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any person skilled in the art can make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention The scope of protection shall be subject to what is defined in the claims.

Claims (12)

1. a universal serial bus expansion device, is characterized in that, comprises: a connection port for electrically connecting an external electronic device; and a charging controller, electrically connected to the connection port to receive a pin configuration signal, and select to execute a first power transmission mode or a second power transmission mode according to the pin configuration signal, Wherein, the charging controller executes the first power transfer mode and counts a first waiting time, wherein when the first waiting time is greater than or equal to a time threshold, the charging controller transfers the power from the first power The mode switches to the second power transfer mode. 2 . The USB expansion device of claim 1 , wherein the first power transfer mode is a power draw mode, and the second power transfer mode is a power supply mode. 3 . 3 . The USB expansion device of claim 2 , wherein after the charging controller switches from the first power transmission mode to the second power transmission mode, the external electronic device also The first power transfer mode is correspondingly executed to enable the USB expansion device to charge the external electronic device. 4 . The USB expansion device of claim 3 , wherein the USB expansion device charges the external electronic device according to a power delivery protocol. 5 . 5. The USB expansion device of claim 1, wherein the charge controller executes the second power transfer mode and counts a second waiting time, wherein the time threshold is set to greater than the second waiting time. 6. The USB expansion device of claim 1, wherein when the first waiting time is greater than or equal to the time threshold, the charging controller executes an error recovery mode to re-enter all The second power transfer mode is described. 7. A method for debugging a universal serial bus expansion device, comprising: Electrically connect external electronic devices through the connection ports; and receiving a pin configuration signal from the connection port to select to execute the first power transfer mode or the second power transfer mode, Wherein, when the first power transmission mode is executed, a first waiting time is counted, wherein when the first waiting time is greater than or equal to a time threshold, switching from the first power transmission mode to the second Power transfer mode. 8 . The error detection method of claim 7 , wherein the first power transfer mode is a power draw mode, and the second power transfer mode is a power supply mode. 9 . 9. The error detection method according to claim 8, wherein the step of switching from the first power transmission mode to the second power transmission mode comprises: When selecting to execute the first power transfer mode, the external electronic device selects to execute the second power transfer mode; and After the USB expansion device is switched from the first power transmission mode to the second power transmission mode, the external electronic device also executes the first power transmission mode correspondingly, so that the universal A serial bus expansion device charges the external electronic device. 10 . The debugging method of claim 9 , wherein the USB expansion device charges the external electronic device according to a power delivery protocol. 11 . 11. The error detection method according to claim 7, wherein the step of selecting and executing the second power transmission mode comprises: A second waiting time is counted, wherein the time threshold is set to be greater than the second waiting time. 12. The error detection method according to claim 7, wherein the step of switching from the first power transmission mode to the second power transmission mode comprises: An error recovery mode is executed to re-enter the second power transfer mode.

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