Specification
Claims:1. A method for facilitating dynamic power allocation and distribution in a multi-port power sourcing device, said method comprising:
receiving, by a first set of instructions to be executed on a multi-port power sourcing device, one or more input parameters at the multi-port power sourcing device, the one or more input parameters pertaining to a plurality of ports of the device, total power rating of the device, maximum power rating of each of a port of the plurality of ports and minimum guaranteed power to be reserved for each of the port of the plurality of ports;
executing, at the multi-port power sourcing device the first set of instructions based on the input parameters, the first set of instructions pertaining to power distribution and operational decision-making across each of the port of the plurality of ports of the multi-port power sourcing device, wherein the executed first set of instructions have one instance for the multi-port power sourcing device and manage allocated power across each of the port of the plurality of ports and available power; and
executing, at the multi-port power sourcing device a second set of instructions based on the executed first set of instructions, the second set of instructions being executed to manage operations pertaining to a single port of the plurality of ports of the multi-port power sourcing device, wherein the executed first set of instructions control the second set of instructions via a request-response communication interface.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the port of the plurality of ports of the multi-port power sourcing device is any of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Type-C port and a USB Type-A port, and where each of the plurality of ports comply to a predefined USB power delivery specification or to a predefined proprietary charging protocol.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein upon execution of the second set of instructions power is delivered to the single port overa VBUS line of a physical USB port based on an active power negotiation protocol and on control requests received from the first set of instructions.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first set of instructions is configured to perform power distribution across each of the port of the plurality of ports of the multi-port power sourcing device using at least one of an Individual-Dedicated-Reserve (IDR) power distribution mechanism, a Common-Combined-Reserve (CCR) power distribution mechanism or a Hybrid-Reserve (HR) power distribution mechanism.
5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein when the power distribution is performed using the IDR power distribution mechanism, the sum of power rating of individual ports of the plurality of ports is equal to the total power rating of the multi-port power sourcing device and each of the port of the plurality of ports is allocated a dedicated power rating, and wherein the second of instructions manage a dedicated power reserve with or without communicating with the first set of instructions.
6. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein when the power distribution is performed using the CCR power distribution mechanism, the sum of power rating of individual ports of the plurality of ports is greater than the total power rating of the multi-port power-sourcing device and the first set of instructions allocate power from a specified common power reserve such that power allocation to a port is upgraded in incremental steps based on sink power requirements.
7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the first set of instructions are executed to perform power distribution across the plurality of ports using any of the IDR power distribution mechanism or the CCR power distribution mechanism, and wherein the first set of instructions controls the power allocation to each of the port such that the allocated power neither exceeds individual power rating of the port nor the total power rating of the multi-port power-sourcing device.
8. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein when the multi-port power sourcing device is switched on and the device uses the CCR power distribution mechanism, the first set of instructions executed on the multi-port power sourcing device activates each of the second set of instructions associated with each of the ports, and wherein the first set of instructions are configured to inform each of the second set of instructions about a minimum level of power to be reserved and allocated on each of unconnected port of the plurality of ports.
9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the reserved minimum level of power to be allocated is configurable, and is allocated dynamically on a USB Type-C connection configuration channel (CC) line detection, and wherein the second set of instructions are executed to supply the minimum allocated power over VBUS at a sink connection detection event when the initial allocated power is greater than or equal to 7.5W for Type-A connection and 15W for Type-C connection.
10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein in case the minimum allocated power for a port with a new USB Type-C sink connection is less than 15W due to power unavailability, the second set of instructions are executed to wait for a power allocation of greater than or equal to 15W from the first set of instructions to start supplying VBUS power, and wherein the first set of instructions during the wait time deallocates the required amount of power from the plurality of ports in a balanced or priority manner.
11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein, in case the minimum allocated power for a port with a new USB Type-C sink connection is less than 15W due to power unavailability, for a USB-PD protocol, the first set of instructions immediately force a give back capable sink connected to any of the other ports by instructing the second set of instructions to send a GotoMin message to retrieve the give back power and provide the initial minimum power required for the new sink connection, wherein the second set of instructions decode the give back power, if advertised in the request message sent by a sink connected to any of the other ports, and inform the first set of instructions.
12. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein when the power distribution is performed using the CCR power distribution mechanism, the second set of instructions, after detecting a sink device connection, discover support of a higher power negotiation protocol and upon discovering the support, the second set of instructions advertise different voltage profiles and corresponding current limits adhering to the power allocated to the port by the first set of instructions, and where the different voltage profiles are custom configured or are based on a set of profiles dependent on the higher power negotiation protocol.
13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein for an upgrade in the higher power negotiation protocol, the second set of instructions are executed to discover a sink support of the USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) protocol by sending a first data packet on a CC line and awaiting a time bounded detection of the second data packet from a sink across a set number of retry attempts, and wherein the second set of instructions uses the first data packet to advertise custom-configured or normative power profiles that are configured based on supply type and supply voltage, and wherein the current limits advertised corresponding to each power profile are dynamically set by the second set of instructions to adhere to the power allocated to the port by the first set of instructions.
14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein for an upgrade in the higher power negotiation protocol, the second set of instructions are executed to discover sufficiency of an allocated power according to an established power negotiation protocol and an alert signal is sent to the first set of instructions related to success or failure of establishment of the higher power negotiation protocol, wherein the alert signal further comprises information related to sufficiency of allocated power to meet sink power requirements.
15. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the first set of instructions are executed to instruct the second set of instructions to discover or detect higher sink power requirements, and where the second set of instructions inform about the discovered or detected higher sink power requirements to the first set of instructions by following a sink profile discovery mechanism, and where the first set of instructions are executed to upgrade the power allocated to the single port, in a conservative manner, to minimum of three of power detected or power discovered by the second set of instructions, available power in the common power reserve, and the port power rating.
16. The method as claimed in claim 15, where the sink profile discovery or detection is done by the second set of instructions only once initially until disconnection of the sink device, and wherein the discovered sink profiles are preserved by the second set of instructions, and are requested by the first set of instructions when needed.
17. The method as claimed in claim 15, where in another configuration, the first set of instructions are executed to periodically request the second set of instructions to discover and detect the sink profiles.
18. The method as claimed in claim 15, where the first set of instructions are additionally executed to request the second set of instructions to discover and detect the sink profiles whenever a power allocation change happens to any of the other port of the plurality of ports.
19. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the power allocated to the single port is configurable, and the power is allocated in a no-priority balanced manner, or priority-based manner to the single port, where the priority based manner is based on any of a random order, a round-robin order, a connection order, and an increasing order of the allocated power.
20. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein one or more port groupings are provided for the IDR power distribution mechanism or the CCR power distribution mechanism, and wherein each of the port of the plurality of ports has the individual power rating that is either similar or is varying within a port grouping of the one or more port groupings.
21. The method as claimed in claim 20, wherein for the CCR power distribution mechanism, a maximum individual port power rating for a port is equal to the total power rating of the multi-port power sourcing device.
22. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein for performing a power upgrade in the CCR power distribution mechanism, the second set of instructions inform the first set of instructions of a next higher power and a highest power required by the sink, wherein the first set of instructions perform multiple rounds of retrievals of next higher power and corresponding allocated power upgrades, wherein the first set of instructions directly upgrade the allocated power to the highest power level required by the sink, if the power is available and if configured to do so, either after a maximum configurable rounds of allocated power upgrades or after a particular timeout from the time of sink connection detection. .
23. The method as claimed in claim 22, wherein for the USB-PD protocol the second set of instructions decode the next higher power by comparing an operational current value from a third data packet with a maximum current supported by the USB Type-C cable, and wherein a lesser value of the operational current value and the maximum cable current is used to determine a power requirement, the determined power requirement being informed about to the first set of instructions.
24. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein for the USB-PD protocol, the voltage levels and the supply types mentioned by sink in the third data packet are used by the second set of instructions directly in advertising the next set of capabilities in the first data packet, wherein the maximum current offered for each voltage profile is tuned as per the power allocated to the port by the first set of instructions.
25. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein for the USB-PD protocol, for a fixed supply sink requirement, the second set of instructions advertise a fixed supply PDO and divide the power allocated to the port by the fixed supply voltage level to facilitate generation of a value of the maximum current field in the first data packet fixed supply PDO.
26. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein for the USB-PD protocol, the first data packet is generated upon execution of the second set of instructions, wherein for a programmable power supply (PPS) sink requirement, if the second set of instructions is configured to operate in a constant power mode apart from a constant voltage and constant current modes, the second set of instructions advertise a PPS augmented power data object (APDO) and divide the power allocated to the port by a nominal voltage corresponding to maximum and minimum voltage, to facilitate generation of value of maximum current field in the first data packet PPS supply APDO, and the second set of instructions sets the power limited to ’1’ in the first data packet PPS supply APDO.
27. The method as claimed in claim 26, wherein if the second set of instructions is configured to not support a constant power mode, the second set of instructions divide the power allocated to the port by a maximum voltage level to generate a value of a maximum current field in the first data packet PPS supply APDO, wherein the second set of instructions set power limited to ‘0’ during the first data packet PPS supply APDO.
28. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein for the USB-PD protocol, for a variable supply sink requirement, the second set of instructions advertise a variable supply PDO, wherein the maximum and minimum voltage in the variable supply PDO are set based on the regulation range of the power supply, and wherein the power allocated to the port is divided by the maximum voltage level to facilitate generation of the value of the maximum current field in the first data packet variable supply PDO.
29. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein for the USB-PD protocol, for all supply types, the maximum current value generated by the second set of instructions is limited to the maximum current supported by the cable.
30. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the first set of instructions maintain a first flag for each of the port of the plurality of ports, wherein the first flag set to 1 for a port is an indication of insufficient power allocated to the port, and wherein for the USB-PD protocol, the first flag value is deduced by the second set of instructions directly or indirectly from a CapabilityMismatch bit in a Request Data Object (RDO) of the Request message sent by the sink.
31. The method as claimed in claim 30, wherein the first flag for a port is cleared by the first set of instructions on occurrence of any of an event related to a power upgrade by the first set of instructions to meet the power requirements of the sink on the port, reduction of sink power requirement informed by the sink or detected by the second set of instructions on the port, and a sink disconnection event on the port.
32. The method as claimed in claim 30, wherein, for the USB-PD protocol, the first set of instructions clear the first flag value associated with a port in case when the sink sends a Request message with CapabilityMismatch bit cleared, either with or without any allocated power upgrade done by the first set of instructions.
33. The method as claimed in claim 30, wherein, the first set of instructions clear the first flag value associated with a port when the power allocation to the port cannot be upgraded by the first set of instructions as the already allocated power is equal to the power rating of the port.
34. The method as claimed in claim 30, wherein the first set of instructions mask the first flag value associated with a port on occurrence of at least no possible power upgrade due to zero available power or the current requirement of the sink exceeding the current rating of the port or the current rating of the cable.
35. The method as claimed in claim 30, wherein the first set of instructions unmask the first flag values for all the ports on a new power allocation to or a sink disconnection on any of the ports of the plurality of ports.
36. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the first set of instructions reduce allocated power to a port in case the sink connected reduces its power requirements or the sink gets disconnected, and wherein the reduced allocated power is dynamically allocated to the other needy ports, based on either a balanced or a priority mechanism , wherein the reduction of allocated power requirement of the sink may be notified by the sink itself or is detected and discovered by the second set of instructions.
37. The method as claimed in claim 36, wherein when the power distribution is performed using a HR power distribution mechanism, the first set of instructions are executed to perform the power distribution across the plurality of ports using any of the IDR mechanism or the CCR power distribution mechanism.
38. The method as claimed in claim 37, wherein, for the HR power distribution, the first set of instructions manage either separate dedicated power reserves across the IDR and CCR groups of ports, or a total power reserve across the IDR and CCR groups of ports, wherein, for the total power reserve, the power on CCR groups of ports is allocated as per total power rating of the multi-port power sourcing device, as long as all of the IDR ports remain unconnected, and wherein, upon an IDR port getting connected, power equal to the rating of the IDR port is allocated by the first set of instructions to the port from an available power reserve, else the allocated power on the connected CCR port is reduced in a balanced manner or a priority-based order.
, Description:TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure relates to a method for dynamic allocation, up gradation, distribution and redistribution of power in a multiport power sourcing device.
BACKGROUND
[0002] There are many devices that require more power than certain other devices. Many bus specifications supply only a specific amount of electrical power to each port. For example, a traditional Dedicated Charging Port (DCP) over USB Type-A connector can supply a maximum of 1.5A @ 5V (7.5W) as per Battery Charging 1.2 (BC1.2) specification. USB Type-C specification, for USB Type-C connector and cables, further increases the maximum supply to 3A @ 5V (15W). Additionally, for higher power delivery over USB Type-C connector, USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) specification is defined to extend the power supply limits to 100W and even beyond. Proprietary fast charging protocols with similar higher power supply limits exist with support for both USB Type-A as well as USB Type-C connectors.
[0003] There might be devices in the near future whose fast charging requirements and data processing services would require them to draw more power than the contemporary devices. For example, smartphones supporting fast charging with 2S Li-ion batteries may require a supply of 9V @ 5A (45W). The more the current drawn, the faster will be the charging of the batteries. This will ultimately be beneficial for the end user. The total power rating of a multiport power sourcing device may be lesser than the cumulative power requirement of the connected sinks to each of the ports. Further, a total power budget of a multiport power sourcing device may be utilized either by dedicating pre-determined portions of the budget to individual ports or by sharing the same total budget across all the ports. Hence, a power sourcing device which sources power across multiple ports to sink devices, must manage the power distribution efficiently, such that neither of the sink devices are deprived whereas others are consuming higher power. This leads to power sourcing device adjusting its power distribution through phases of sink discovery and power up-gradations after connection detection. Further, existing solutions do not specify a method for separating the power distribution flow from the individual port handling in a multiport power sourcing device, such that the generic power distribution flow can be applicable to any charging/power delivery protocol. Also, whenever there is a sudden connection of new devices or disconnection of existing devices, the power supply again must readjust the power distribution to withstand the increased power demand or to redistribute in case power is withdrawn from a port.
[0004] There is therefore a need in the art for a real time distribution and allocation of power in the plurality of ports in multiport power devices using a protocol agnostic centralized power distribution flow coupled to individual port handling flows.
OBJECTS OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE
[0005] Some of the objects of the present disclosure aimed to ameliorate one or more problems of the prior art or to at least provide a useful alternative are listed herein below.
[0006] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a method that facilitates to distribute power dynamically for multiport power sourcing devices.
[0007] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a method that facilitates to distribute power in a USB Type-C/Type-A based multiport power sourcing device.
[0008] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a method that facilitates to distribute power for multiport power sourcing devices while additionally complying with the base rules specified by USB Type-C, USB Type-A, USB power delivery specifications and other charging protocols.
[0009] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a method that facilitates to encompass both shared capacity and assured capacity power adapters as per USB Type-C specification and specifies additional power sharing configurations.
[00010] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a method that facilitates to handle detection of a device connection/disconnection, dynamic power allotment and redistribution through a sink profile detection/discovery and communication.
[00011] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a method that facilitates to handle USB PD source capabilities dynamic generation focused on sink capabilities.
[00012] Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a method that facilitates to handle sink notifications for insufficient power and performing possible power up-gradation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[00013] The present disclosure relates to a method for dynamic allocation, up gradation, distribution and redistribution of power in a multiport power sourcing device.
[00014] According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided for facilitating dynamic power allocation and distribution in a multi-port power sourcing device. The method comprises: receiving, by a first set of instructions to be executed on a multi-port power sourcing device, one or more input parameters at the multi-port power sourcing device, the one or more input parameters pertaining to a plurality of ports of the device, total power rating of the device, maximum power rating of each of a port of the plurality of ports and minimum guaranteed power to be reserved for each of the port of the plurality of ports; executing, at the multi-port power sourcing device the first set of instructions based on the input parameters, the first set of instructions pertaining to power distribution and operational decision-making across each of the port of the plurality of ports of the multi-port power sourcing device, wherein the executed first set of instructions have one instance for the multi-port power sourcing device and manage allocated power across each of the port of the plurality of ports and available power; and executing, at the multi-port power sourcing device a second set of instructions based on the executed first set of instructions, the second set of instructions being executed to manage operations pertaining to a single port of the plurality of ports of the multi-port power sourcing device, wherein the executed first set of instructions control the second set of instructions via a request-response communication interface.
[00015] According to an embodiment, each of the port of the plurality of ports of the multi-port power sourcing device is any of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Type-C port and a USB Type-A port, and where each of the plurality of ports complies to a predefined USB power delivery specification or to a predefined proprietary charging protocol.
[00016] According to an embodiment, upon execution of the second set of instructions power is delivered to the single port over a Voltage Bus (VBUS) line of a physical USB port based on an active power negotiation protocol and on control requests received from the first set of instructions.
[00017] According to an embodiment, the first set of instructions is configured to perform power distribution across each of the port of the plurality of ports of the multi-port power sourcing device using at least one of an Individual-Dedicated-Reserve (IDR) power distribution mechanism, a Common-Combined-Reserve (CCR) power distribution mechanism or a Hybrid-Reserve (HR) power distribution mechanism.
[00018] According to an embodiment, when the power distribution is performed using the IDR power distribution mechanism, the sum of power rating of individual ports of the plurality of ports is equal to the total power rating of the multi-port power sourcing device and each of the port of the plurality of ports is allocated a dedicated power rating, and wherein the second of instructions manage a dedicated power reserve with or without communicating with the first set of instructions.
[00019] According to an embodiment, when the power distribution is performed using the CCR power distribution mechanism, the sum of power rating of individual ports of the plurality of ports is greater than the total power rating of the multi-port power-sourcing device and the first set of instructions allocate power from a specified common power reserve such that power allocation to a port is upgraded in incremental steps based on sink power requirements.
[00020] According to an embodiment, the first set of instructions are executed to perform power distribution across the plurality of ports using any of the IDR power distribution mechanism or the CCR power distribution mechanism, and wherein the first set of instructions controls the power allocation to each of the port such that the allocated power neither exceeds individual power rating of the port nor the total power rating of the multi-port power-sourcing device.
[00021] According to an embodiment, when the multi-port power sourcing device is powered on and the device uses the CCR power distribution mechanism, the first set of instructions executed on the multi-port power sourcing device activates each of the second set of instructions associated with each of the ports, and wherein the first set of instructions are configured to inform each of the second set of instructions about a minimum level of power to be reserved and allocated on each of unconnected port of the plurality of ports.
[00022] According to an embodiment, the reserved minimum level of power to be allocated is configurable, and is allocated dynamically on a USB Type-C connection configuration channel (CC) line detection, and wherein the second set of instructions are executed to supply the minimum allocated power over VBUS at a sink connection detection event when the initial allocated power is greater than or equal to 7.5Wfor Type-A connection and 15W for Type-C connection.
[00023] According to an embodiment, in case the minimum allocated power for a port with a new USB Type-C sink connection is less than 15W due to power unavailability, the second set of instructions are executed to wait for a power allocation of greater than or equal to 15W from the first set of instructions to start supplying VBUS power, and wherein the first set of instructions during the wait time deallocates the required amount of power from the plurality of ports in a balanced or priority manner.
[00024] According to an embodiment, in case the minimum allocated power for a port with a new USB Type-C sink connection is less than 15W due to power unavailability, for a USB-PD protocol, the first set of instructions immediately force a give back capable sink connected to any of the other ports by instructing the second set of instructions to send a GotoMin message to retrieve the give back power and provide the initial minimum power required for the new sink connection, wherein the second set of instructions decode the give back power, if advertised in the request message sent by a sink connected to any of the other ports, and inform the first set of instructions.
[00025] According to an embodiment, when the power distribution is performed using the CCR power distribution mechanism, the second set of instructions, after detecting a sink device connection, discover support of a higher power negotiation protocol and upon discovering the support, the second set of instructions advertise different voltage profiles and corresponding current limits adhering to the power allocated to the port by the first set of instructions, and where the different voltage profiles are custom configured or are based on a set of profiles dependent on the higher power negotiation protocol.
[00026] According to an embodiment, for an upgrade in the higher power negotiation protocol, the second set of instructions are executed to discover a sink support of the USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) protocol by sending a first data packet on a CC line and awaiting a time bounded detection of the second data packet from a sink across a set number of retry attempts, and wherein the second set of instructions uses the first data packet to advertise custom-configured or normative power profiles that are configured based on supply type and supply voltage, and wherein the current limits advertised corresponding to each power profile are dynamically set by the second set of instructions to adhere to the power allocated to the port by the first set of instructions.
[00027] According to an embodiment, for an upgrade in the higher power negotiation protocol, the second set of instructions are executed to discover sufficiency of an allocated power according to an established power negotiation protocol and an alert signal is sent to the first set of instructions related to success or failure of establishment of the higher power negotiation protocol, wherein the alert signal further comprises information related to sufficiency of allocated power to meet sink power requirements.
[00028] According to an embodiment, the first set of instructions are executed to instruct the second set of instructions to discover or detect higher sink power requirements, and where the second set of instructions inform about the discovered or detected higher sink power requirements to the first set of instructions by following a sink profile discovery mechanism, and where the first set of instructions are executed to upgrade the power allocated to the single port, in a conservative manner, to minimum of three of power detected or power discovered by the second set of instructions, available power in the common power reserve, and the port power rating.
[00029] According to an embodiment, the sink profile discovery or detection is done by the second set of instructions only once initially until disconnection of the sink device, and wherein the discovered sink profiles are preserved by the second set of instructions, and are requested by the first set of instructions when needed.
[00030] According to an embodiment, in another configuration, the first set of instructions are executed to periodically request the second set of instructions to discover and detect the sink profiles.
[00031] According to an embodiment, the first set of instructions are additionally executed to request the second set of instructions to discover and detect the sink profiles whenever a power allocation change happens to any of the other port of the plurality of ports.
[00032] According to an embodiment, the power allocated to the single port is configurable, and the power is allocated in a no-priority balanced manner, or priority-based manner to the single port, where the priority based manner is based on any of a random order, a round-robin order, a connection order, and an increasing order of the allocated power.
[00033] According to an embodiment, one or more port groupings are provided for the IDR power distribution mechanism or the CCR power distribution mechanism, and wherein each of the port of the plurality of ports has the individual power rating that is either similar or is varying within a port grouping of the one or more port groupings.
[00034] According to an embodiment, for the CCR power distribution mechanism, a maximum individual port power rating for a port is equal to the total power rating of the multi-port power sourcing device.
[00035] According to an embodiment, for performing a power upgrade in the CCR power distribution mechanism, the second set of instructions inform the first set of instructions of a next higher power and a highest power required by the sink, wherein the first set of instructions perform multiple rounds of retrievals of next higher power and corresponding allocated power upgrades, wherein the first set of instructions directly upgrade the allocated power to the highest power level required by the sink, if the power is available and if configured to do so, either after a maximum configurable rounds of allocated power upgrades or after a particular timeout from the time of sink connection detection.
[00036] According to an embodiment, for the USB-PD protocol the second set of instructions decode the next higher power by comparing an operational current value from a third datapacket with a maximum current supported by the USB Type-C cable, and wherein a lesser value of the operational current value and the maximum cable current is used to determine a power requirement, the determined power requirement being informed about to the first set of instructions.
[00037] According to an embodiment, for the USB-PD protocol, the voltage levels and the supply types mentioned by sink in the third data packet are used by the second set of instructions directly in advertising the next set of capabilities in the first data packet, wherein the maximum current offered for each voltage profile is tuned as per the power allocated to the port by the first set of instructions.
[00038] According to an embodiment, for the USB-PD protocol, for a fixed supply sink requirement, the second set of instructions advertise a fixed supply PDO and divide the power allocated to the port by the fixed supply voltage level to facilitate generation of a value of the maximum current field in the first data packet fixed supply PDO.
[00039] According to an embodiment, for the USB-PD protocol, the first data packet is generated upon execution of the second set of instructions, wherein for a programmable power supply (PPS) sink requirement, if the second set of instructions is configured to operate in a constant power mode apart from a constant voltage and constant current modes, the second set of instructions advertise a PPS augmented power data object (APDO) and divide the power allocated to the port by a nominal voltage corresponding to maximum and minimum voltage, to facilitate generation of value of maximum current field in the first data packet PPS supply APDO, and the second set of instructions sets the power limited to ’1’ in the first data packet PPS supply APDO.
[00040] According to an embodiment, if the second set of instructions is configured to not support a constant power mode, the second set of instructions divide the power allocated to the port by a maximum voltage level to generate a value of a maximum current field in the first data packet PPS supply APDO, wherein the second set of instructions set power limited to ‘0’ during the first data packet PPS supply APDO.
[00041] According to an embodiment, for the USB-PD protocol, for a variable supply sink requirement, the second set of instructions advertise a variable supply PDO, wherein the maximum and minimum voltage in the variable supply PDO are set based on the regulation range of the power supply, and wherein the power allocated to the port is divided by the maximum voltage level to facilitate generation of the value of the maximum current field in the first data packet variable supply PDO.
[00042] According to an embodiment, for the USB-PD protocol, for all supply types, the maximum current value generated by the second set of instructions is limited to the maximum current supported by the cable.
[00043] According to an embodiment, the first set of instructions maintain a first flag for each of the port of the plurality of ports, wherein the first flag set to 1 for a port is an indication of insufficient power allocated to the port, and wherein for the USB-PD protocol, the first flag value is deduced by the second set of instructions directly or indirectly from a CapabilityMismatch bit in a Request Data Object (RDO) of the Request message sent by the sink.
[00044] According to an embodiment, the first flag for a port is cleared by the first set of instructions on occurrence of any of an event related to a power upgrade by the first set of instructions to meet the power requirements of the sink on the port, reduction of sink power requirement informed by the sink or detected by the second set of instructions on the port, and a sink disconnection event on the port.
[00045] According to an embodiment, for the USB-PD protocol, the first set of instructions clear the first flag value associated with a port in case when the sink sends a Request message with CapabilityMismatch bit cleared, either with or without any allocated power upgrade done by the first set of instructions.
[00046] According to an embodiment, the first set of instructions clear the first flag value associated with a port when the power allocation to the port cannot be upgraded by the first set of instructions as the already allocated power is equal to the power rating of the port.
[00047] According to an embodiment, the first set of instructions mask the first flag value associated with a port on occurrence of at least no possible power upgrade due to zero available power or the current requirement of the sink exceeding the current rating of the port or the current rating of the cable.
[00048] According to an embodiment, the first set of instructions unmasks the first flag values for all the ports on a new power allocation to or a sink disconnection on any of the ports of the plurality of ports.
[00049] According to an embodiment, the first set of instructions reduce allocated power to a port in case the sink connected reduces its power requirements or the sink gets disconnected, and wherein the reduced allocated power is dynamically allocated to the other needy ports, based on either a balanced or a priority mechanism, wherein the reduction of allocated power requirement of the sink may be notified by the sink itself or is detected and discovered by the second set of instructions.
[00050] According to an embodiment, when the power distribution is performed using a HR power distribution mechanism, the first set of instructions are executed to perform the power distribution across the plurality of ports using any of the IDR mechanism or the CCR power distribution mechanism.
[00051] According to an embodiment, for the HR power distribution, the first set of instructions manage either separate dedicated power reserves across the IDR and CCR groups of ports, or a total power reserve across the IDR and CCR groups of ports, wherein, for the total power reserve, the power on CCR groups of ports is allocated as per total power rating of the multi-port power sourcing device, as long as all of the IDR ports remain unconnected, and wherein, uponan IDR port getting connected, power equal to the rating of the IDR port is allocated by the first set of instructions to the port from an available power reserve, else the allocated power on the connected CCR port is reduced in a balanced manner or a priority-based order.
[00052] Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, along with the accompanying drawing figures in which like numerals represent like features.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
[00053] In the figures, similar components and/or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label with a second label that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label.
[00054] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary representation of a first set of instructions, for managing centralized and protocol agnostic distribution of power in a multiport power sourcing device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[00055] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary representation of a second set of instructions, for performing operations pertaining to actual supply of power over a single port of the power sourcing device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[00056] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary representation of a POWER_ALLOCATION sub-routine of the MCA, for dynamic allocation of power to a port index pin a multiport power sourcing device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[00057] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary representation of a POWER_DEALLOCATION sub-routine of the MCA for dynamic de-allocation of power in a multiport power sourcing device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[00058] FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary representation of a GET_PORT_IDX_FOR_SERVICE sub-routine of the MCA for retrieving the next port index to service for power upgradation in a multiport power sourcing device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[00059] FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary representation of an INIT_DISCOVERY_PWR_PROTOCOL subroutine of the SHA for USB PD protocol discovery on initial connection detection of a sink device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[00060] FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary representation of an ADV_CHG_VBUS_PWR subroutine of the SHA to advertise the SourceCapabilities advertisement in case USB PD is active on the portin accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[00061] FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary representation of a POPULATE_SOURCE_CAP_PDOs subroutine of the SHA, in case USB PD is active on the port, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[00062] FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary representation of a CHK_SNK_REQ subroutine of the SHA to validate power request from a sink device, in case USB PD is active on the port, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[00063] FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary representation of a TRANS_VBUS subroutine of the SHA, in case USB PD is active on the port, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[00064] FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary representation of SNK_PROF_DET subroutine of the SHA, in case USB PD is active on the port, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[00065] FIG. 12 is a high-level flow diagram illustrating steps for distribution of power in a multiport power sourcing device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[00066] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details.
[00067] Embodiments of the present invention may be provided as a computer program product, which may include a machine-readable storage medium tangibly embodying thereon instructions, which may be used to program a computer (or other electronic devices) to perform a process. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, fixed (hard) drives, magnetic tape, floppy diskettes, optical disks, compact disc read-only memories (CD-ROMs), and magneto-optical disks, semiconductor memories, such as ROMs, PROMs, random access memories (RAMs), programmable read-only memories (PROMs), erasable PROMs (EPROMs), electrically erasable PROMs (EEPROMs), flash memory, magnetic or optical cards, or other type of media/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronic instructions (e.g., computer programming code, such as software or firmware).
[00068] The present disclosure relates to a method for dynamic allocation, up gradation, distribution and redistribution of power in a multiport power sourcing device.
[00069] In an embodiment, is provided a method for facilitating dynamic power distribution over USB Type-C/Type-A ports of a multi-port power sourcing device. The number of ports may be not limited for all practical requirements. Each port of the number of ports may be of USB Type-C or USB Type-A. Power distribution across each port of the number of ports may be controlled by a coordinated pair of a first set of instructions (e.g., a master control mechanism, also referred to herein as a master control algorithm or MCA) and a second set of instructions (e.g., a slave handler mechanism, also referred to herein as a slave handler algorithm or SHA).
[00070] In an embodiment, each of USB Type-C port may support various power delivery/fast charging protocols that also includes USB Type-C power delivery protocol.
[00071] Further, each of USB Type-A port may support various fast charging protocols apart from minimally providing a battery charging 1.2 (BC 1.2) dedicated charging port (DCP) functionality and power.
[00072] The disclosure provides a method for managing power distribution across each port of the number of ports of the multi-port power sourcing device.
[00073] In an embodiment, the MCA may be protocol agnostic and may have one instance, and the SHA may have one instance per port. The MCA may maintain a record of the allocated power across various ports and available power, and may control the SHAs via a request-response communication interface. In this case, the SHA may deliver power over VBUS line of physical USB port based on active power negotiation protocol out of the supported protocols and based on the control requests from the MCA.
[00074] In an embodiment, the multi-port power sourcing device may support multiple power negotiation protocols over a port (for example, USB-PD, QuickCharge, etc.), but based on the sink connected, at an instant, one protocol may be active for delivering power.
[00075] In an embodiment, the disclosed method for power distribution may facilitate configuring the MCA to perform power distribution across ports in multiple manners, such as in an Individual-Dedicated-Reserve (IDR) manner, a Common-Combined-Reserve (CCR) manner or a hybrid of the two, Hybrid-Reserve (HR) manner. Various system configurations as provided using the multiple manners are discussed in detailed below.
[00076] In the IDR power distribution manner, a sum of power rating of individual ports may be equal to power rating of the multi-port power sourcing device and each of the port may be allocated with a dedicated power rating. The SHA may in a stand-alone manner manage the dedicated power reserve and does not require communication with the MCA. Further, actual hardware/software communication interface to the MCA or other ports may or may not be physically present.
[00077] In the CCR power distribution manner, sum of power rating of the individual ports may be greater than the total rating of the multi-port power sourcing device and the MCA may allocate the port power from a specified common power reserve in a soft-start manner. This means that the power allocation to a port may be upgraded, in incremental steps, by the MCA based on sink power requirements. The MCA may also be configured to perform power distribution across some of the ports in the IDR manner and the rest of them in the CCR manner. In any of the system configurations as discussed above, the MCA may control the power allocated to each of the SHA (or the port) so as to exceed neither individual power rating of the port nor total power rating of the power-sourcing device.
[00078] In the HR power distribution, a set of ports on the multi-port power sourcing device may be designated to work in the IDR manner, and the remaining set of ports may be designated to work in the CCR manner.
[00079] In an embodiment, in port groupings for the IDR power distribution manner or the CCR power distribution manner, individual port power ratings from product specification point of view, may or may not be same in that group. Further, in the CCR power distribution manner, the maximum individual port power rating may be equal to rating of the multi-port power sourcing device.
[00080] In an embodiment, in the CCR power distribution manner, the MCA may wake up all the SHAs of individual ports at a time of power-on of the multi-port power sourcing device. The MCA may be by default configured to reserve and inform the SHAs initially a minimum level of power on every unconnected port. In an implementation, the minimum level of power may be used by the SHA for an initial 5V supply on Voltage Bus (VBUS) line, and where the minimum level of power, as per USB-IF regulations, may be 7.5W (5V@1.5A) for the USB Type-C ports (using Rp1.5A advertisement on CC line) and same 7.5W (5V@1.5A) for USB Type-A DCP ports (using D+ and D- short). In case of the USB Type-C ports, the MCA may upgrade power to 15W (5V@3A) by retrieving power from other ports, as a consequence of which the SHA may change CC termination to Rp3.0, in order to advertise 3A support by sink.
[00081] In an embodiment, for enabling the minimum level of power allocation as in the CCR power distribution, the MCA may also be custom-configured to not reserve any minimum power for USB Type-C ports. The MCA may dynamically allocate a minimum power level on a USB Type-C connection CC line detection, in which case the minimum power level may be allocated before raising the VBUS to 5V after connection detection, and the MCA may guarantee availability of the minimum power level dynamically by either retrieving required amount of power from one of the plurality of the ports connected to a give back capable sink or by deallocating required amount of power from the plurality of the ports. In an embodiment, in the CCR power distribution manner as discussed above, after the initial minimum power level allotment, the SHA may attempt to discover and/or advertise support of a higher power negotiation protocol and if supported and possible, the SHA may advertise different voltage profiles and corresponding current limits that adhere to the power allocated to that port by the MCA. Further, the different voltage profiles may be custom-configured or may be a set of normative/mandatory profiles according to the charging protocol.
[00082] In an embodiment, the higher power negotiation protocol may be upgraded. Here, in case of USB Type-C, the SHA may attempt to discover sink support of USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) protocol, by sending a first data packet (e.g., SourceCapabilities) message on a configuration channel (CC) line and may await time-bounded detection of the second data packet (e.g., GoodCRC) acknowledgement from the sink across a set number of retry attempts. Also, the SHA may use e.g., SourceCapabilities to advertise power profiles which may be custom-configured to any supply type and supply voltages. In case supply types and voltages are not custom-configured, the SHA may form a set of maximum supported number of normative voltages for Fixed and Programmable Power Supply (PPS) supply levels. In both the cases of custom-configuration and the normative advertisement, the current limits advertised corresponding to each power profile may be dynamically chosen to adhere to the power allocated to the port by the MCA.
[00083] In an embodiment, during the higher power negotiation protocol upgrade, the SHA may further attempt to discover sufficiency of initial allocated power according to the established power negotiation protocol and may alert the MCA of success/failure to establish a higher power negotiation protocol and determine whether the initial allocated power may be sufficient to meet sink power requirements.
[00084] In an embodiment, for detection of sufficiency of the initial allocated power while using USB-PD protocol, the SHA may check the Request messagefrom the sink where the CapabilityMismatch may be set to 1 by sink to indicate that the allocated power may not be sufficient for sink power requirements and vice-versa. The SHA may then, on successful USB-PD protocol establishment, alert the MCA of the power level of the present contract and CapabilityMismatch value from Request message. Further, the same method for detection of allocated power sufficiency may be applicable to further power negotiations within the domain of USB-PD protocol.
[00085] In an embodiment, Method of CCR power distribution mentioned in Claim 3, where MCA instructs SHA to perform discovery/detection of higher sink power requirements if needed, and accordingly where SHA informs higher sink power requirements to MCA by following the sink profile discovery/detection process, and where MCA upgrades power allocated to a port, in a conservative manner, to the minimum of the three of power required by sink informed by SHA, available power in the common power reserve, and port power rating, where the sink profile discovery/detection process is done only once initially and the sink profiles thus discovered/detected are preserved by the SHA, and can be requested by the MCA when needed.
[00086] In an embodiment, for performing the sink profile discovery/detection in another configuration, the MCA may be configured to periodically request the SHA to discover/detect sink profiles to account for dynamic changes in the sink requirements. In another configuration, the MCA may also be additionally configured to request the SHA to discover/detect sink profiles whenever a power allocation change happens to any of the ports.
[00087] In an implementation, the sink profile discovery/detection may be performed by the MCA by maintaining a table of Boolean values. For each of an entity of the table corresponding to a sink connected on a port, a first flag (e.g., SinkReqNotMet value) may be set to 1 for a port. This is an indication of insufficient power allocated to the port. In case of USB-PD protocol, SinkReqNotMet value may be deduced directly/indirectly from the CapabilityMismatch bit in a Request Data Object (RDO) of the Request message sent by the sink.
[00088] In yet another implementation, the sink profile discovery/detection may be performed in case of a USB-PD protocol. Here, the MCA may instruct the SHA to retrieve sink power profiles in case the SinkReqNotMet value for that particular port is set to 1, where the SHA may send GetSinkCapabilities message to the sink, retrieve the higher power numbers above already allocated power from a third data packet (e.g., SinkCapabilities response message) from the sink and inform the MCA of the next higher power and the highest powerrequirements of the sink. Accordingly, the MCA may upgrade the power of the corresponding port to the minimum of next higher power, available power and port power rating.
[00089] In an embodiment, after the discovery/detection of the sink profile, a power upgrade may be performed for the port. The order in which the power may be upgraded by the MCA to one or more needy ports may be configurable to be in a no-priority balanced fashion, or priority-based fashion. In the balanced fashion, the MCA may request the SHAs of all the needy ports to discover/detect the sink profiles and allocate the power to individual SHAs based on collective decision from the sink profiles from all the SHAs. Further, in the priority-based fashion, the MCA may be configured to choose an order of servicing the needy ports based on a random order selection, round-robin order, connection order or increasing order of power requirements retrieved from sink profiles.
[00090] In an embodiment, balanced power upgrade in the CCR power distribution mechanism is performed by allocating power to the needy ports. This is decided by the MCA on a weighted power requirement ratio basis. As an example, assume PADAPTER as the total power of the CCR power reserve, and P1, P2, P3…. Pn as the higher power requirements of the sinks connected to each port, where n is the number of ports in the CCR port group of the multi-port power sourcing device. Further, assuming weighted power requirement ratio of each port, ?i = Pi / (P1+P2+P3+…+Pn), and PREQ is minimum of PADAPTER and (P1+P2+P3+…+Pn). The MCA may allocate the power to each port as PREQ *?1, PREQ *?2, PREQ *?3, … PREQ *?n.
[00091] In another implementation, during the balanced power upgrade in the CCR power distribution, the MCA performs balanced power allocation to m connected ports of the multi-power sourcing device having a total of n CCR ports, where m
Documents
Application Documents
| # |
Name |
Date |
| 1 |
202041051935-STATEMENT OF UNDERTAKING (FORM 3) [28-11-2020(online)].pdf |
2020-11-28 |
| 2 |
202041051935-POWER OF AUTHORITY [28-11-2020(online)].pdf |
2020-11-28 |
| 3 |
202041051935-FORM FOR STARTUP [28-11-2020(online)].pdf |
2020-11-28 |
| 4 |
202041051935-FORM FOR SMALL ENTITY(FORM-28) [28-11-2020(online)].pdf |
2020-11-28 |
| 5 |
202041051935-FORM 1 [28-11-2020(online)].pdf |
2020-11-28 |
| 6 |
202041051935-EVIDENCE FOR REGISTRATION UNDER SSI(FORM-28) [28-11-2020(online)].pdf |
2020-11-28 |
| 7 |
202041051935-EVIDENCE FOR REGISTRATION UNDER SSI [28-11-2020(online)].pdf |
2020-11-28 |
| 8 |
202041051935-DRAWINGS [28-11-2020(online)].pdf |
2020-11-28 |
| 9 |
202041051935-DECLARATION OF INVENTORSHIP (FORM 5) [28-11-2020(online)].pdf |
2020-11-28 |
| 10 |
202041051935-COMPLETE SPECIFICATION [28-11-2020(online)].pdf |
2020-11-28 |
| 11 |
202041051935-RELEVANT DOCUMENTS [23-02-2021(online)].pdf |
2021-02-23 |
| 12 |
202041051935-FORM 13 [23-02-2021(online)].pdf |
2021-02-23 |
| 13 |
202041051935-Correspondence_Form28, POA, Self Declaration, DIPP_01-03-2021.pdf |
2021-03-01 |
| 14 |
202041051935-Proof of Right [12-04-2021(online)].pdf |
2021-04-12 |
| 15 |
202041051935-Covering Letter [18-08-2021(online)].pdf |
2021-08-18 |
| 16 |
202041051935-FORM 3 [21-01-2022(online)].pdf |
2022-01-21 |
| 17 |
202041051935-FORM 18 [16-02-2024(online)].pdf |
2024-02-16 |
| 18 |
202041051935-Proof of Right [03-01-2025(online)].pdf |
2025-01-03 |
| 19 |
202041051935-FER.pdf |
2025-08-18 |
| 20 |
202041051935-FORM 3 [22-08-2025(online)].pdf |
2025-08-22 |
Search Strategy
| 1 |
202041051935_SearchStrategyNew_E_202041051935E_18-08-2025.pdf |