Integrated virtual hub chip

1. An electronic apparatus comprising:

a serial port configured to interface with a separate host;

one serial interface engine (SIE) connected to the serial port;

at least a first interface unit and a second interface unit connected to the SIE; and

a virtual hub connected to the SIE, the virtual hub comprising a firmware unit configured to emulate a hub having multiple ports.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first interface unit is chosen from one of a human interface device, a secure channel, a video capture device, a printer device, a scanner device, or a wireless class device.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second interface unit is a flash media drive.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is housed within a keyboard.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is a Universal Serial Bus (USB) peripheral and the serial port is a USB port.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the SIE, the first interface unit and the second interface unit are connected to a controller.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a third interface unit is connected to the SIE.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the serial port, the SIE, the first interface unit and the second interface unit are integrated on a single device.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a third interface is connected to the serial port, the third interface having a second SIE.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the human interface device comprises of one or more of a keyboard, mouse, joy stick, game pad, touch pad, or biometric sensor.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the wireless class device comprises of one or more of a device supporting a Wi-Fi wireless protocol comprising of IEEE Standards 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11e, 802.11g, a device supporting a Bluetooth protocol, and a device supporting a wireless USB protocol.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the secure channel comprises an authentication scheme using hash algorithms.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , where the hash algorithms comprise of one or more of MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512, HMAC-MD5 or HMAC-SHA1 algorithms.

14. A method comprising:

connecting a serial interface engine (SIE) to a serial port configured to interface with a separate host;

connecting at least a first interface unit and a second interface unit to the SIE; and

connecting a virtual hub to the SIE, the virtual hub comprising a firmware unit configured to emulate a hub having multiple ports.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

selecting the first interface unit from one of a human interface device, a secure channel, a video capture device, a printer device, a scanner device, or a wireless class device.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the second interface unit is a flash media drive.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

integrating the serial port, the SIE, the first interface unit and the second interface unit on a single device.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

housing the single device within a keyboard.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the human interface device comprises of one or more of a keyboard, mouse, joy stick, game pad, touch pad, or biometric sensor.

20. An apparatus comprising:

means for connecting a serial interface engine (SIE) to a serial port configured to interface with a separate host;

means for connecting at least a first interface unit and a second interface unit to the SIE; and

means for connecting a virtual hub to the SIE, the virtual hub comprising a firmware unit configured to emulate a hub having multiple ports.