USB hub power management

Details USB hub power management USB hub power management

2001-03-23

2003-04-01

Riley, Shawn (Department: 2838)

Electrical transmission or interconnection systems

Plural load circuit systems

Control of current or power

C710S313000, C713S340000, C361S018000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06541879

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method and/or architecture for power management generally and, more particularly, to a method and/or architecture for implementing Universal Serial Bus (USB) hub power management.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventional power management for USB hubs requires costly regulated DC power supplies, costly monolithic power switching devices and/or overcurrent detection devices. Furthermore, overcurrent detection methods are over-sensitive to transient current spikes.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, a conventional USB power management circuit
10
is shown. The circuit
10
comprises a regulated power supply
12
, a controller
14
and a number of power switching and monitoring devices
16
a
-
16
n
. Each of the power switching and monitoring devices
16
a
-
16
n
are implemented as monolithic devices. The switching and monitoring devices
16
a
-
16
n
provide power control and over current detection to the controller
14
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention concerns an apparatus comprising a controller, a voltage supply circuit and a power management circuit. The controller may include one or more ports. The voltage supply circuit may be configured to generate an unregulated voltage supply. The power management circuit may be configured to receive the unregulated voltage supply and present a regulated power supply voltage to each of the one or more ports.
The objects, features and advantages of the present invention include providing a method and/or architecture for implementing Universal Serial Bus (USB) hub power management that may (i) provide overcurrent detection, (ii) provide port overcurrent detection in a USB hub, (iii) implement a “shutdown” feature of a voltage regulator to provide port power switching and/or (iv) reduce production costs.


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