Granted Patent B2

US 8,321,603 · App. 12/844,841 · Granted Nov 27, 2012

Abstract

Claims (30)

1. A rechargeable device, comprising:

a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector that allows a port to be connected to the rechargeable device, wherein the USB connector includes a voltage line, a positive data line, a negative data line, and a negative voltage line;

a USB controller coupled to the USB connector for communicating with the port by way of the USB connector;

a power management module coupled to the USB controller for selectively enabling the provision of power to the USB controller based on the type of the port connected to the USB connector;

a hardware detector coupled to the USB connector for detecting the type of the port connected to the USB connector, wherein the hardware detector provides a port type query signal on the positive data line, monitors the negative data line for a response signal, generates a monitoring result based on a delay time between transmission of the query signal and receipt of the response signal, and determines the type of the port based on the monitoring result,

wherein the hardware detector determines that the port is a dedicated charger when the delay time between the transmission of the query signal and receipt of the response signal is less than a first predetermined period that is shorter than a USB controller port type detection period, and

wherein the hardware detector is coupled to the power management module and provides a port type to the power management module, and the power management module turns off power to the USB controller when the port is a dedicated charger such that the USB controller is in an off state.

2. The rechargeable device according to claim 1 , wherein the hardware detector determines that the port is a charging host when the delay time between the query signal and the response signal is longer than the first predetermined period and shorter than a second predetermined period.

3. The rechargeable device of claim 2 , wherein the second predetermined period is longer than the first predetermined period and shorter than the USB controller port type detection period.

4. The rechargeable device of claim 2 , wherein the hardware detector determines that the port is a standard host if the delay time between the query signal and the response signal is longer than the second predetermined period.

5. The rechargeable device of claim 2 , wherein the first predetermined period is less than 1 millisecond and the second predetermined period is less than 40 milliseconds.

6. The rechargeable device of claim 5 , wherein the first predetermined period is substantially equal to 1 millisecond.

7. The rechargeable device of claim 1 , wherein the port type query signal is an increase of voltage above a predetermined threshold on the positive data line and the response signal is an increase of a voltage on the negative data line above the predetermined threshold.

8. The rechargeable device of claim 1 , wherein the hardware detector comprises:

a positive data line detection circuit for detecting the port type query signal on the positive data line;

a negative data line detection circuit for detecting the response signal on the negative data line; and

a timing unit connected to the positive and negative data line detection circuits for determining the port type based on the time delay between detection of the query and response signals.

9. The rechargeable device of claim 8 , further comprising a port type query signal generator for generating the port type query signal.

10. A method for determining a type of a port connected to a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector of a rechargeable device, the method comprising:

detecting a port type query signal on a positive data line of the USB connector of the rechargeable device;

monitoring a negative data line of the USB connector of the rechargeable device for a response signal; and

measuring a delay time between the query signal and the response signal;

determining the type of the port based on the delay time;

determining that the port is a dedicated charger if the delay time is less than a first predetermined period that is shorter than a USB controller port type detection period; and

selectively providing power to a USB controller of the rechargeable device based on the determined port type, wherein when the port is a dedicated charger, power to the USB controller is turned off so that the USB controller is in an off state.

11. The method for determining a type of a port of claim 10 , comprising determining that the port is a charging host if the delay time is longer than the first predetermined period and shorter than a second predetermined period, wherein the second predetermined period is longer than the first predetermined period and shorter than the USB controller port type detection period.

12. The method for determining a type of a port of claim 11 , comprising determining that the port is a standard host if the delay time is greater than the second predetermined period.

13. The method for determining a type of a port of claim 12 , wherein the first predetermined period is shorter than 1 millisecond and the second predetermined period is shorter than 40 milliseconds.

14. The method for determining a type of a port of claim 13 , wherein the first predetermined period is substantially equal to 1 millisecond.

15. The method for determining a type of a port of claim 10 , wherein the port type query signal is an increase in voltage above a predetermined threshold on a positive data line of the USB connector, and the response signal is an increase in voltage above the predetermined threshold on a negative data line of the USB connector.

Assignments (30)