Patent Application
20180018295
The invention relates to connections using USB type-C, particularly to automatic detection to a host and device.
The USB (universal serial bus) Type-C connectors connect to both hosts and devices, replacing various Type-B and Type-A connectors and cables with a standard meant to be future-proof.
A USB interface device, such as a dock, may be provided with two USB Type-C connectors for connecting a host device and an accessory device. For example, the host device may be a battery-operated device such as a laptop computer or a smartphone, and the accessory device may be a power adapter, so that the battery-operated device can be charged by the power adapter through the dock.
Usually, such a USB interface device must designate one of the USB Type-C connectors to be connected with a battery-operated device and the other USB Type-C connector to be connected with a power adapter. However, there must be some users who carelessly connect the device and adapter in an opposite manner. Under this situation, conventional USB interface device cannot work until the device and adapter have been connected correctly. In other words, the device-to-host interface direction in the USB interface device is unchangeable. It will be helpful for users if the USB interface device can automatically exchange its device-to-host interface direction.
An object of the invention is to provide a method for automatically exchanging device-to-host interface direction for USB Type-C connections, which can automatically detect which connector the host (battery-operated device) is connected to and change the device-to-host interface direction if necessary.
To accomplish the above object, the invention provides a method for automatically exchanging device-to-host interface direction for USB Type-C connections, including the steps of:
a) providing a USB interface device with a first USB type-C connector and a second USB type-C connector, wherein the two USB type-C connectors are electrically connected through a switch module;
b) connecting a first USB device to the first USB type-C connector;
c) verifying whether the first USB device sends out a USB host command or not;
d) setting the first USB type-C connector and the second USB type-C connector to serve as a host port and a device port, respectively, if yes in step c); and
e) setting the first USB type-C connector and the second USB type-C connector to serve as a device port and a host port, respectively, if no in step c)
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In sum, by the method of the invention, two USB devices can be randomly connected to any of the two USB Type-C connectors 3, 4. This is very helpful for users.
It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the above embodiment has been described by way of example only and not in any limitative sense, and that various alterations and modifications are possible without departure from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
