Qualcomm Incorporated

Itamar Berman

Nir Gerber

Yair Cassuto

Lalan Jee Mishra

Terrence Brian Remple

Enhanced communications over a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Type-C cable are disclosed. In one aspect, a link control circuit is provided in a USB host to enable one or more communication circuits in the USB host to transmit and receive protocol-specific data over a sideband use (SBU) interface according to communication protocols that may or may not be USB compliant. In another aspect, the link control circuit is provided in a USB client to enable one or more communication circuits in the USB client to transmit and receive protocol-specific data over the SBU interface according to communication protocols that may or may not be USB compliant. By configuring the USB host and the USB client to support multi-protocol communications via the SBU interface, it is possible to enable more flexible architectural design in mobile communication devices for enhanced performance and reduced costs.

Enhanced communications over a universal serial bus (USB) type-C cable

Two super-speed lanes may be enabled on a single USB cable. In an exemplary, non-limiting aspect, the USB cable is a Type-C cable. In further non-limiting aspects, the super-speed lanes may be present even if there is no USB 2.0 lane present on the D+/D&#x2212; pins of the USB cable. Use of the second super-speed lane increases data throughput. Eliminating the requirement that the D+/D&#x2212; pins be used for USB 2.0 data allows greater flexibility in the use of the USB connection because audio or video data may be sent over the D+/D&#x2212; pins instead of USB 2.0 data. Further, the use of the two super-speed lanes allows a single computing element to operate as a host on one lane and a device on a second lane.

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Kerem Maharal, Israel

Itamar Berman