The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 29, 2022
Filed:
Jun. 28, 2019
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Vinay Raghav, Folsom, CA (US);
Prashant Sethi, Folsom, CA (US);
Robert Gough, Beaverton, OR (US);
Reuven Rozic, Binyamina, IL;
Uri Soloveychik, Had Hasharon, IL;
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
Automatic-switching and deployment of software (SW)- or firmware (FW)-based USB4 connection managers (CMs) and associated methods, apparatus, software and firmware. A handshake is defined between BIOS and an operating system (OS) to discover supported CM capability and dynamically switch from a FW CM to a SW CM and visa verse if there is a mismatch. In addition, a mechanism is defined to deploy the correct FW or SW CM driver based on class code, 2-part or 4-part ID. Support for continued USB4 operation during an OS upgrade or downgrade is provided, while ensuring that the best possible CM solution is used based on the advertised platform and OS capability. USB4 controllers support a pass-through mode under which the host controller FW redirects control packets sent between an SW CM and a USB4 fabric, and a FW CM mode under which control packets are communicated between the host controller FW and the USB4 fabric to configure USB4 peripheral devices and/or USB4 hubs in the USB4 fabric.