CN108763130B

CN108763130B - System with link reset function

Info

Publication number: CN108763130B
Application number: CN201810358372.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 谢圣祥
Original assignee: Qisda Suzhou Co Ltd; Qisda Corp
Current assignee: Qisda Suzhou Co Ltd; Qisda Corp
Priority date: 2018-04-20
Filing date: 2018-04-20
Publication date: 2022-03-08
Anticipated expiration: 2038-04-20
Also published as: CN108763130A

Abstract

The invention discloses a system with a link reset function, which comprises a signal source, a port, a control device, a multiplexer and a processing device. The signal source is used for generating an output signal. The port is coupled to the signal source for receiving the output signal. The control device is coupled to the port and used for generating a synchronous signal to the port according to the output signal. The control device synchronously receives the output signals through the ports. If the synchronous signal is abnormal, the control device generates a notification signal. The multiplexer is coupled to the control device for separating the output signal into audio-video data and high-speed universal serial bus data. The processing device is coupled to the multiplexer and the control device. According to the notification signal, the processing device generates a reset signal to the control device. The system with the link resetting function can customize whether to automatically perform link resetting processing or not, and has high operation convenience and debugging capability.

Description

System with link reset function

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a system with a link reset function, and more particularly, to a system for a link of a high speed universal serial bus in a signal transmission alternative mode.

Background

With the technology changing day by day, various wired and wireless ports are widely used in daily life. Particularly for data communication of a plurality of different electronic devices, a suitable port is particularly important. For example, various different types of ports may be used in handheld electronic devices such as notebook computers, mobile phones, tablet computers, and the like. These electronic devices are characterized by being portable and capable of being used at any time and any place. In order to connect various electronic devices to each other for large-volume and high-speed data transmission, the electronic devices are usually connected to a downstream port of a hub by a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection line, and an upstream port of the hub is connected to a host device. Thus, the electronic devices and the host device can transmit or receive data to or from each other through the USB transmission protocol of the hub.

USB ports were originally initiated by intel and microsoft initiatives, with the biggest feature of supporting hot-plug and plug-and-play. When the electronic device establishes a link with a host device through the USB port, the host device can enumerate to the device and automatically load the required drivers. Therefore, data communication using the USB transfer protocol is far more convenient than other buses. Furthermore, USB ports are much faster than conventional computer standard buses such as Enhanced Parallel ports (e.g., Line Printer Terminal) and serial ports (e.g., RS-232). With the increasing demand for data transmission rate, USB ports are also designed for high-speed data transmission. For example, in the specification of USB 1.1, the maximum transmission bandwidth of data is 12 Mbps. In the specification of USB 2.0, the maximum transmission bandwidth of data is increased to 480 Mbps. In the specifications of USB 3.0 and USB 3.1, the maximum transmission bandwidth of data is even 5Gbps to 10 Gbps. In addition to the evolution of USB port specifications, USB ports have had many breakthroughs in hardware, such as the recent USB Type-C port, which is characterized by identical and symmetrical top and bottom ends, which also means that the user does not need to distinguish the front and back sides of the USB port. That is, both directions of the USB Type-C port can be inserted into the connection hole. In addition, the USB Type-C port also supports the latest USB 3.1 high-speed signal transmission specification, so that many current smart phones and notebook computers use the USB Type-C port.

In the application of the USB Type-C port, the back end must be matched with the power transmission module controller and the circuit supporting the signal transmission alternative mode to simultaneously output the video signal and the USB data signal. However, in the transmission alternative mode, when the USB Type-C port fails to communicate data due to hardware failure or poor contact, the video signal cannot be transmitted. The poor transmission of the image signal will cause the interruption of the screen or the failure of normal display. However, because the pin of the USB Type-C port lacks a Hot Plug Detect (Hot Plug Detect) pin, when the USB Type-C is in a data communication failure state, the USB Type-C cannot request to re-communicate with the source signal through the Hot Plug Detect pin. In other words, when the USB Type-C port is abnormally connected to cause data communication to be interrupted, the user can only reset the USB Type-C port manually. Also because USB Type-C does not have the hot plug to detect the pin, therefore when the connection of USB Type-C port is unusual, can not have obvious warning message to inform the user that the connection is unusual, so cause the inconvenience in operation.

Therefore, there is a need to design a new system with link reset function to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a system with a link resetting function, which can define whether to automatically perform link resetting processing or not and has high operation convenience and debugging capability.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a system with a link reset function is provided, which includes: a signal source for generating an output signal; a port coupled to the signal source for receiving the output signal; the control device is coupled with the port and used for generating a synchronous signal to the port according to the output signal so that the control device synchronously receives the output signal through the port and generating a notification signal if the synchronous signal is abnormal; the multiplexer is coupled with the control device and used for separating the output signal into audio-video data and high-speed universal serial bus data under the signal transmission substitution mode; and a processing device, coupled to the multiplexer and the control device, for receiving the video data and generating a reset signal to the control device according to the notification signal, so that the control device communicates with the signal source again through the port.

As an optional technical solution, the method further comprises: a display coupled to the processing device for displaying images according to the video data and for inputting a reset setting in the transmission alternative mode through a screen adjustment menu; wherein the processing device generates a link failure message on the image displayed by the display according to the notification signal.

As an optional technical solution, the control device includes: the power transmission module is coupled to the port and used for detecting the synchronous signal through the monitoring channel configuration pin and generating the notification signal to the processing device if the synchronous signal is abnormal.

As an optional technical solution, the control device includes: the power transmission module is coupled to the port and used for detecting the synchronous signal through a monitoring channel configuration pin and generating a trigger signal if the synchronous signal is abnormal; and the universal serial bus concentrator is coupled with the power transmission module and used for receiving the trigger signal and starting an error notification function according to the trigger signal so as to generate the notification signal to the processing device.

As an optional technical solution, the usb hub device is coupled to the port for receiving the low-speed usb data of the output signal through the port, and the usb hub device is coupled to the multiplexer for receiving the high-speed usb data output by the multiplexer.

As an optional technical solution, if the synchronization signal is abnormal, the notification signal generated by the control device changes from a first potential to a second potential, and the first potential is smaller than the second potential.

As an optional technical scheme, the port is a Type-C universal serial bus port, the audio-video data is in a digital video interface standard specification, and the high-speed universal serial bus data is in a full-duplex overspeed data communication specification.

As an optional technical solution, the Type-C usb port includes a plurality of paired full-duplex data transceiving pins, and in the signal transmission alternative mode, at least one of the paired full-duplex data transceiving pins is configured to transmit the audio/video data of the digital video interface standard specification.

As an optional technical solution, after the port communicates with the signal source again for N times, the processing device generates a stop signal to the control device to suspend the communication between the control device and the signal source, where N is a positive integer greater than 1.

As an optional technical solution, if the voltage of the output signal drops below the threshold voltage to cause the synchronization signal to be abnormal, the control device generates the notification signal to the processing device.

Compared with the prior art, the invention provides a system with a link reset function, which comprises a coupled port and a signal source, supports a signal transmission alternative mode and can simultaneously transmit video data and high-speed universal serial bus data through the port. When the connection state between the port and the signal source is abnormal, the system can detect the abnormal state, and then the processing device generates a reset signal to the control device to communicate with the signal source again. Therefore, for the user, the system with the link resetting function of the invention can customize whether to automatically perform the link resetting process, and has high operation convenience and debugging capability.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system with a link reset function according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating pins of a port in the system of FIG. 1.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a power transmission module in the control device in the system of fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a power transmission module and a usb hub device in the control device of the system of fig. 1.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating transmission paths of high-speed USB data and low-speed USB data in the system of FIG. 4.

Detailed Description

In order to further understand the objects, structures, features and functions of the present invention, the following embodiments are described in detail.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system 100 with link reset functionality. To simplify the description, hereinafter, the system 100 having the link resetting function is simply referred to as the system 100. The system 100 includes a signal source 10, a port 11, a control device 12, a multiplexer 13 and a processing device 14. The signal source 10 can be any device with audio/video data output capability, such as a personal computer, a tablet computer, a smart phone, and an audio/video player. The signal source 10 generates an output signal. For example, when the signal source 10 is a personal computer, the output signal may include video data generated by a computer display adapter or a hard disk, and data of a Universal Serial Bus (USB). The port 11 may be a Type-C Universal Serial Bus (USB Type-C) port. Since the port 11 can be a USB Type-C port, the port 11 can support hot plug links on both sides. The definition of each pin of the port 11 will be described in detail later. The port 11 is coupled to the signal source 10 for receiving the output signal. The control device 12 is coupled to the port 11 for generating a synchronization signal to the port 11 according to the output signal, so that the control device 12 receives the output signal through the port 11 synchronously. The control device 12 may be any device for receiving signals on each pin of the USB Type-C port. Furthermore, the control device 12 can determine whether the connection between the port 11 and the signal source 10 is abnormal according to the voltage variation of the synchronization signal of the supervisory Channel Configuration Pin (Configuration Channel Pin) of the USB Type-C. If the link between the port 11 and the signal source 10 is abnormal (e.g. bad contact or hardware failure), which will cause the voltage of the synchronization signal for monitoring the channel configuration pin to be abnormal, the control device 12 can generate the notification signal BS. The multiplexer 13, which may be a USB Type-C dedicated multiplexer integrated circuit, is coupled to the control device 12 for separating the output signal into audio/video data and high-speed USB data in an Alternative signal transmission Mode (hereinafter referred to as Alt Mode). The processing device 14 can be any device with programmable logic operation function, such as a display processing chip (scaler) or a microprocessor, etc. The processing device 14 is coupled to the multiplexer 13 and the control device 12 for receiving the video data. Moreover, when the link between the port 11 and the signal source 10 is abnormal, the processing device 14 may also receive the notification signal BS generated by the control device 12, and generate the reset signal RS to the control device 12 according to the notification signal BS, so that the control device 12 communicates with the signal source 10 again through the port 11.

In the system 100, a display 15 may also be included. The display 15 may be any kind of screen or projection device. The display 15 is coupled to the processing device 14 for displaying images according to the audio/video data. The Display 15 can also be used to input reset settings in the transmission alternative mode through an On Screen Display (OSD) menu 16. For example, the display 15 can be set by generating the following table 1 through the OSD menu:

TABLE 1

In other words, the user can select whether the processing device 14 will automatically reset the USB Type-C port 11 in the signal transmission alternative mode through the control device 12 by using the OSD menu 16 of the display through the settings presented in Table 1. If the user selects "yes", the processing device 14 is configured to send out a reset signal RS to enable the control device 12 to reset the connection of the port 11 to re-communicate with the signal source 10 when the connection between the port 11 and the signal source 10 is abnormal. If the user selects "no", the reset operation of the port 11 and the signal source 10 can be performed manually. Moreover, no matter what reset setting the OSD menu 16 is selected by the user, when the link between the port 11 and the signal source 10 is abnormal, the processing device 14 will generate a link failure message on the image displayed on the display 15 according to the notification signal BS generated by the control device 12. For example, the link failure Message may include a Message of "going Message: USB Type-C Alt Mode Fail! "and so on. Therefore, the user can see the abnormal status of the link between the port 11 and the signal source 10 at a glance through the display 15. However, in the system 100 of the present invention, the content of the OSD menu 16 displayed on the display is not limited by table 1. For example, the OSD menu 16 may also include advanced settings, such as setting the number of times the port 11 communicates with the signal source 10 again. In other words, the user can set the number of the re-communication between the port 11 and the signal source 10 through the OSD menu 16 to be N, where N may be a positive integer greater than 1. Under this setting, after the port 11 communicates with the signal source 10 again N times, the processing device 14 may generate a stop signal to the control device 12 to stop the communication between the control device 12 and the signal source 10 through the port 11. Especially, when the port 11 is loose, the unnecessary energy loss caused by the control device 12 continuously repeating the re-communication operation with the signal source 10 through the port 11 can be avoided by limiting the number of re-communication.

In system 100, port 11 may be defined as a USB Type-C compliant port. Thus, the voltage and current of the output signal generated by the signal source 10 received by the port 11 can be 5 volts (V) and 20 amperes (a), respectively. The synchronization signal generated by the control device 12 corresponding to the monitor channel configuration pin also corresponds to the output voltage/current (5V/20A) of the USB Type-C standard under normal conditions. When the link between the port 11 and the signal source 10 is abnormal (e.g. bad contact or hardware failure), the output signal is decreased from 5V to below the threshold voltage, e.g. the voltage of the output signal is changed to 3V. The abnormal voltage of the output signal will also cause the abnormal synchronous signal. When the synchronization signal is abnormal, the control device 12 generates a notification signal BS with voltage fluctuation. For example, the control device 12 may generate the notification signal BS changing from the first potential to the second potential, and the first potential may be smaller than the second potential. Therefore, when the processing device 14 receives the notification signal BS with voltage fluctuation, it can immediately detect the Time point of the link abnormality between the port 11 and the signal source 10, so that the link failure message can be displayed on the image of the display 15 in Real Time (Real Time) to notify the user of the link failure message.

Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating pins of the port 11 in the system 100. As mentioned previously, the port 11 may be a USB Type-C port. The pins of port 11 include pin A1 through pin A12, and pin B1 through pin B12. The pins A1 through A12 and B1 through B12 are symmetrical pins. Pin A1 and pin B1 are used for ground. Pin A2 and pin B2 are used to receive the "positive" end of the overspeed data (Super Speed Date). Pin A3 and pin B3 are used to receive the "negative" end of the overspeed data. Pin a4 and pin B4 are used to receive bus power. Pin A5 and pin B5 are monitor channel configuration pins for maintaining port 11 and source 10 in synchronization. The pin A6 and the pin B6 are used to receive the "positive" side of the differential signal of low speed universal serial bus data, such as USB 2.0. The pin A7 and the pin B7 are used to receive the "negative" side of the differential signal of low speed universal serial bus data, such as USB 2.0. The pin A8 and the pin B8 are used for Side Band Use (Side Band Use), and can transmit low-speed Data or configuration information, such as information for transmitting auxiliary channel signals (including Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) of the Display). Pin a9 and pin B9 are used to receive bus power. Pin A10 and pin B10 are used to receive the "negative" end of the overspeed data. Pin A11 and pin B11 are used to receive the "positive" end of the overspeed data. Pin A12 and pin B12 are used for ground. In the port 11, since the pins a1 to a12 and the pins B1 to B12 are symmetrical pins, when the controller 12 receives signals output from a row of pins on one side, no matter whether the port 11 is outputting in the forward direction (the pins receiving signals are a1 to a12) or outputting in the reverse direction (the pins receiving signals are B1 to B12), the output signals of the port 11 can be correctly received by the controller 14, so that the port 11 can support hot plug on both sides. Also, the port 11 includes a plurality of pairs of full duplex data transceiver pins, for example, in the port 11, the pin A2 and the pin B11 can be regarded as a pair of full duplex data transceiver pins D1. The pin A3 and the pin B10 may be considered a pair of full duplex data transceiver pins D2. The pin A10 and the pin B3 may be considered a pair of full duplex data transceiver pins D3. The pin A11 and the pin B2 may be considered a pair of full duplex data transceiver pins D4. When the Port 11 is set to the signal transmission alternative mode, at least one of the paired full-duplex data transceiver pins D1-D4 can be used to transmit video data of the digital video interface standard (DP). In other words, in the alternative mode of signal transmission, the port 11 can simultaneously support the audio/video data of DP, the data of high speed usb and the data of low speed usb, so that it has high transmission convenience.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the power transmission module 12a in the control device 12 in the system 100. A Power Delivery Module (PD) 12a of the system 100 may be disposed in the control device 12. The power transmission module 12a is coupled to the port 11 for detecting the synchronization signal via the monitor channel configuration pins (pin a5 and pin B5 of fig. 2). If the synchronization signal is abnormal, the power transmission module 12a may generate a notification signal BS to the processing device 14. In the system 100, the power transmission module 12a may also be coupled to the processing device 14, and therefore, may also be used for receiving the reset signal RS sent by the processing device 14. After the power transmission module 12a receives the reset signal RS, the port 11 can be controlled to re-communicate with the signal source 10. Therefore, the system 100 has a function of resetting the link in addition to supporting the high-speed data transfer characteristic of the USB Type-C standard.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the power transmission module 12a and the usb hub device 12b in the control device 12 of the system 100. Fig. 4 is similar to the architecture of fig. 3, except that the control device 12 may further include a usb hub device 12 b. Similarly, the power transmission module 12a is coupled to the port 11 and the processing device 14 for detecting the synchronization signal via the monitor channel configuration pins (pin a5 and pin B5 of fig. 2). If the synchronization signal is abnormal, the power transmission module 12a may generate a trigger signal. The universal serial bus Hub (USB Hub)12b is coupled to the power transmission module 12a, the port 11 and the processing device 14 for receiving the trigger signal. Furthermore, the usb hub 12b may activate the error notification function to generate the notification signal BS to the processing device 14 according to the trigger signal. In this embodiment, the error notification Function may be a Billboard Function in the USB Type-C specification, and the notification Signal BS may also be an error notification Signal (Billboard Signal). As mentioned above, when the potential of the notification signal BS changes (for example, from low potential to high potential), the processing device 14 and the time point of the abnormal state of the output port 11 can be detected, and accordingly a link failure message is generated to the display 15, and the control device 12 is selectively operated to re-communicate the output port 11 with the signal source 10 according to the setting in the OSD menu 16.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of transmission paths of the high-speed usb data HSD and the low-speed usb data LSD in the system 100. As mentioned above, the port 11 may be a USB Type-C port. The port 11 may include pins A1-A12 and pins B1-B12 that are vertically symmetrical. In the port 11, if the port is operated in the transmission alternative mode, as shown in FIG. 2, the pin A2, the pin A3, the pin A10 and the pin A11 (and the symmetrical pin B2, the pin B3, the pin B10 and the pin B11) can be used for transmitting the audio/video data of the higher speed DP and the HSD. The high-speed USB data HSD may be Full-Duplex high-speed data in USB 3.0 specification. Pins A6 and A7 (and their symmetric pins B6 and B7) may be used to transmit the lower speed USB data LSD. The low-speed general serial bus data LSD may be data of USB 2.0 specification. The pins (e.g., pin a2, pin A3, pin a10, pin a11, and its symmetric pin B2, pin B3, pin B10, and pin B11) of the higher speed DP audio/video data and the high speed usb data HSD corresponding to the port 11 may be coupled to the power transmission module 12 a. Therefore, the power transmission module 12a can receive the audio/video data of DP and part of the high speed usb data HSD in the output signal generated by the signal source 10. The USB hub 12B may be coupled to the port 11, and may be configured to receive the portion of the low speed USB data LSD (e.g., USB 2.0 data) of the output signal via the port 11 corresponding to the pins of the low speed USB (e.g., pins a6, a7 and their symmetric pins B6 and B7). Also, as mentioned above, the multiplexer 13 can separate the audio/video data of DP from the high speed usb data HSD. Therefore, the audio/video data of DP can be received by the processing device 14. The usb hub 12b may be coupled to the multiplexer 13 for receiving the high-speed usb data HSD output by the multiplexer 13. In other words, the usb hub 12b can receive the low-speed usb data LSD transmitted from the port 11 directly through the low-speed usb pin, and can also receive the high-speed usb data HSD output by the multiplexer 13. Therefore, in the system 100, the usb hub device 12b may receive usb data of high speed and low speed.

In the system 100, as shown in fig. 5, the usb hub device 12b may generate a notification signal BS to the processing device 14, so that the processing device 14 displays a link failure message on the image of the display 15. The usb hub device 12b may also feed back the link failure message to the signal source 10 by using the supported error notification Function (Billboard Function). For example, when the signal source 10 is a personal computer or a notebook computer, the link failure message can be displayed on the lower right corner of the computer desktop according to the link failure message fed back by the usb hub device 12 b. Therefore, no matter at one end of the signal source 10 or at one end of the display 15, the user can view the link failure message when the link between the port 11 and the signal source 10 is abnormal. However, the system 100 of the present invention is not so limited. For example, in fig. 3, the control device 12 omits the usb hub device 12 b. Although the control device 12 of the usb hub 12b is omitted, the control device 12 may still use the notification signal BS (generated by the power transmission module 12 a) to notify the processing device 14 to display the link failure message on the image of the display 15, although the control device 12 does not feedback the link failure message to one end of the signal source 10. Thus, it is still possible for the user to view the link failure message at one end of the display 15. Any reasonable technical or hardware changes in the system 100 are within the scope of the present disclosure.

In summary, the present invention describes a system with a link reset function. The system comprises a USB Type-C port supporting the high-speed data transmission protocol. In addition, the system also supports a signal transmission substitution mode, and can simultaneously transmit audio-video data of the digital video interface standard specification and high-speed and low-speed universal serial bus data through the USB Type-C port. When the connection state between the port and the signal source is abnormal, the system can detect the abnormal state by using the configuration pin of the monitoring channel, and then the processing device generates a reset signal to the control device to communicate with the signal source again. The processing device also generates a link failure message to the image on the display. Therefore, for the user, it is not only able to customize whether to automatically perform the link resetting process, but also able to immediately understand the abnormal status of the port through the link failure message displayed on the display image and perform the process in time. Therefore, the system with the link reset function of the invention has high operation convenience and debugging capability.

The present invention has been described in relation to the above embodiments, which are only exemplary of the implementation of the present invention. It should be noted that the disclosed embodiments do not limit the scope of the invention. Rather, it is intended that all such modifications and variations be included within the spirit and scope of this invention.

Claims

1. A system having a link reset function, comprising:

a signal source for generating an output signal;

a port coupled to the signal source for receiving the output signal;

the control device is coupled with the port and used for generating a synchronous signal to the port according to the output signal so that the control device synchronously receives the output signal through the port and generating a notification signal if the synchronous signal is abnormal; the control device comprises a power transmission module, a control module and a control module, wherein the power transmission module is coupled to the port and used for detecting the synchronous signal through a monitoring channel configuration pin;

the multiplexer is coupled with the control device and used for separating the output signal into audio-video data and high-speed universal serial bus data under the signal transmission substitution mode; and

the processing device is coupled with the multiplexer and the control device and used for receiving the video data and generating a reset signal to the control device according to the notification signal so that the control device can communicate with the signal source again through the port.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a display coupled to the processing device for displaying images according to the video data and for inputting a reset setting in the transmission alternative mode through a screen adjustment menu;

wherein the processing device generates a link failure message on the image displayed by the display according to the notification signal.

3. The system of claim 1,

the power transmission module generates the notification signal to the processing device when the synchronization signal is abnormal.

4. The system of claim 1,

the power transmission module generates a trigger signal when the synchronous signal is abnormal; the control device also comprises a universal serial bus concentrator which is coupled with the power transmission module and used for receiving the trigger signal and starting an error notification function according to the trigger signal so as to generate the notification signal to the processing device.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the USB hub device is coupled to the port for receiving the low speed USB data of the output signal through the port, and the USB hub device is coupled to the multiplexer for receiving the high speed USB data output by the multiplexer.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the control device generates the notification signal to change from a first voltage to a second voltage if the synchronization signal is abnormal, and the first voltage is lower than the second voltage.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the port is a Type-C USB port, the AV data is DVI standard specification, and the high speed USB data is full duplex ULSI specification.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the Type-C USB port comprises a plurality of pairs of full-duplex data transceiver pins, and at least one of the pairs of full-duplex data transceiver pins is configured to transmit the AV data in the DVI standard in the alternative signal transmission mode.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing device generates a stop signal to the control device after the port communicates with the signal source N times again to suspend communication between the control device and the signal source, and N is a positive integer greater than 1.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the control means generates the notification signal to the processing means if the voltage of the output signal falls below a threshold level causing an abnormality in the synchronization signal.