Switch for operatively connecting a peripheral device having a first connection protocol to a host device having a different connection protocol

Abstract

A switch capable of being operatively coupled between a peripheral device and a host device has a physical port disposed on the switch. The switch includes a protocol switch. The protocol switch, when in a first position, enables a host device having a first communication port and a first communication protocol to communicate with a peripheral device. The peripheral device has a second communication port different than the first communication port, and operates on a second protocol different than the first protocol.

Description

SWITCH FOR OPERATIVELY CONNECTING A PERIPHERAL DEVICE HAVING A FIRST CONNECTION PROTOCOL TO A HOST DEVICE HAVING A DIFFERENT CONNECTION PROTOCOLCROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 63 / 552,838 filed February 13, 2024, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention is directed to a switch, and more particularly to a switch capable of being operatively coupled between a host DEVICE and peripheral device; the peripheral device having a first connection protocol, the host having a second connection protocol; the switch coupling the peripheral device to the host device as if the peripheral device utilizes the second connection protocol.

[0003] As is known in the art, current host devices and computer systems, and the docks or hubs that may be connected to them, come with various interfaces including Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, USB 4 and USB 3 or even USB 2. These ports mostly come in Type C connector form factors; while for flexibility at times a USB Type A connector may be observed on these devices. Both Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 (and the upcoming Thunderbolt 5) may also support USB from the same Type-C port or connector at maximum theoretical speed of 40 Gigabits per second (Gbps), while the minimum data transfer speed for Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 are 16Gbps and 32Gbps respectively; with support for a maximum USB 3 speed of lOGbps.

[0004] Most USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4 or later devices are able to also connect to a USB 3 or even USB 2 host port and still have either limited performance, restricted by the lower speed protocol, and / or limited functionality, due to capabilities of that lower capability protocol. With such devices if a user uses a cable that has a limitation, for example, to only USB 3 or USB 2 capability regardless of what they connect the peripheral device to, the peripheral device will then connect at a protocol of no higher level than what the cable is capable of providing.

[0005] Furthermore, USB 4 and Thunderbolt do not support UASP(USB attached SCSI protocol) commands over their NVME protocol. While a complex driver can be written that can be installed on a host by the customer to support an alternative means to issue commands from the host to a peripheral device - this is both complicated, not well supported on the Apple platform at all due to security implications, and in general, is not ideal for the user experience.

[0006] In addition, Thunderbolt 3 (and later versions) and USB 4 (and later versions) gain performance through the use of PCIe protocols with NVMe interface. However, this suffers from the disadvantage that it is much more difficult to write applications supporting that interface leveraging NVMe drivers. In comparison use of the USB 3 protocol that relies on SCSI interface makes it much easier to implement with many applications developed over the years leveraging this protocol including Other World Computing’s Innergize software application by way of nonlimiting example.

[0007] Accordingly, a structure and / or method which overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art is desired.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] A switch capable of being operatively coupled between a peripheral device and a host device has a physical port disposed on the switch. The switch includes a protocol switch. The protocol switch, when in a first position, enables a host device having a first communication port and a first communication protocol to communicate with a peripheral device. The peripheral device has a second communication port different than the first communication port, and operates on a second protocol different than the first protocol.

[0008] In one non limiting embodiment the protocol switch is a physical switch.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] The features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of the invention in which like elements are labeled similarly and in which:FIG. 1 is an operational schematic view of the switch constructed in accordance with the invention;FIG. 2 is a front plan view of a switch constructed in accordance with the invention; and FIG. 3 is an operational schematic view of the switch constructed in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] The present invention is a design concept and method of a physical switch operatively coupled between a peripheral device to interface with a host computer through Thunderbolts (or later embodiments)or USB 4 (or later embodiments) interfaces by leveraging a PCIe interconnectdirectly or through tunneling approaches with NVMe host interface. The switch forces the peripheral device to operate and communicate with the host device in USB 3 or lower modes of USB which include USAP through the same host device port. For the remainder of this document, please note that a plus (+) after USB 4, Thunderbolt 3, or Thunderbolt 4 are noting ‘or later’ as this applies to future versions and interactions of these interface protocols in addition to the current embodiment. There are no current or future named protocols at this time called Thunderbolt 3+, Thunderbolt 4+, or USB 4+ for this to otherwise be confused.

[0011] The USB to PCIe chipset that manages such devices supports, by way of non-limiting example, Thunderbolt 3+ and USB protocols and automatically detects and connects to the fastest performing protocol that the host device supports. Table 1 below illustrates a summary of such connections:

[0012] Reference is now made to Figures 1 and 2 in which an exemplary nonlimiting embodiment of the switch generally indicated as 102, incorporating a physical switch 106 is provided. Switch 102 includes a physical port 104, in this instance a USB 4 port to accommodate the USB 4 interconnect from a host device (not shown). A PCIe interface isprovided between switch 102 and a peripheral device (not shown). Switch 102 is characterized by its USB to PCIe chipset conversion.

[0013] The physical switch 106, in one non limiting embodiment, takes the form of a General Purpose I / O (GPIO). The physical switch 106 is activated as a function of whether the connected peripheral device will be mounted as Thunderbolt 4+ or USB 4+ In one non limiting example (Switch position = 1) functional coupling is then completed by switch 102 through PCIe interconnect (with the peripheral device not shown) with NVMe host interface. Conversely in another mode of operation (Switch position = 0) the functional coupling operates as USB 3 port to communicate through USB protocol with a SCSI interface.

[0014] In effect, the physical switch 106 forces a reset to ignore certain pathway inputs from the peripheral device; inputs not associated with a USB 3 port by way of example. Switch 106 effectively disables the conductive pathways between the device and host and / or what the device is being connected to. Figure 2 shows a physical incarnation of the switch, like numerals are used for like structure, leveraging this method for a peripheral device to operate in USB 4 mode for performance and with the switch to toggle to work with Innergize software, by way of example, in USB 3 mode. This switch also operates whereby one would connect a device to a Thunderbolt port or USB4 (or higher) port on a dock, hub, or daisy-chain port on a another device that is between the user’s device with the switch and the host.

[0015] Reference now is made to Figure 3 in which an embodiment of the invention without a physical switch is presented. A physical port 104 is disposed between switch 302 and host device 308. A physical port 304, in this instance a USB 3 / SCSI port, accommodates the interconnection from the host device 308. A software application running on host device 308 sends commandsto the chipset in switch 302 to operate in USB 3 mode. The switch firmware recognizes what type of connection from the peripheral device is plugged into the physical port It also requires the software application to be modified so that it can send a custom command to the USB to PCIe chipset incorporating a custom firmware supporting such command coming from the application running on the host so that it switches to USB 3 mode for connection to the target peripheral device. As can be seen once the switch takes on a software embodiment, it can be incorporated into the hosting device, or in the cable itself.

[0016] Regardless of software-based approach of Figure 3 or the physical switch design of Figure 1, when the switch is set to zero in Figure 1, the default and fastest connections above in Table 1 will be reverted to the following connections as illustrated in Table 2 below between the host and the device.

[0017] This connection between the host and device in USB 3 or lower mode will now allow the applications that utilize UASP communication to work with the peripheral device, such as a storage device. This requires only minor changes to the software application in design concept of Figure 3 or no changes at all to the design if a physical switch is used in the target device as in Figure 1. Such peripheral devices may include, but are not limited to solid state drives (SSDs), camera memory cards (SD, CFExpress, etc.), docks, external data enclosures, etc. Host devicesmay include, but are not limited to computers, servers, tablets, smartphones, and other processor enabled devices. Software applications that rely on SCSI connection may include but not limited to Other World Computer’s Innergize software that allows the application to check the health of a flash-based storage device, sanitize the storage device to gain its peak performance or allow the firmware of the storage device to be upgraded in the field.

[0018] By constructing a switch as discussed above:1- By software with silicon gate present on the peripheral device, a command may be sent from the host that directs a reset and connection mode change to the desired USB 3.2 or lower protocol. Following the intended peripheral device update, either the device will automatically return to the prior full protocol support mode or may be directed to do so by the host.2- By hardware only, a physical switch disconnects specific conductors in the USB connection that results in a connection reset and a reconnection at the desired USB 3.2 or lower protocol. Following the intended peripheral device update, the same switch would be used to reverse this condition, reset, and return the peripheral device to the prior full protocol support mode.3- In combination of hardware and software, a physical switch on the device will cause the device to implement restriction on a portion of the USB connection and thereby forcesthe peripheral device into a prior USB 3.2 or lower operational mode. This switch can be done via software function or via a physical hardware switch or combination thereof.4- In addition to a physical / visible switch, this switch could also be implemented with options to be controlled by a wireless connection (such as Bluetooth, 802.1 lx, NFS) or even via special data packet sent by the host to which the Thunderbolt and USB device are connected.

[0019] This invention allows either a physical switch or a custom software command implemented in the application and a custom firmware embedded in the device chipset to be used to force a device to connect with the host in USB 3 or lower versions of USB and communicate with applications via UASP even when the device is connected to a Thunderbolt! (or later version) or a USB 4 (or later version) port allowing the user to benefit from the full potential capabilities of these interfaces such as performance during a data transfer while enabling them to run an application that communicates with the host and / or storage device through UASP language. Some newer host devices are only equipped with Thunderbolt3 (or later versions) and / or USB 4 (or later versions) via these host’s USB Type C connectors. It is possible for a device that supports Thunderbolt4(or later versions) or USB 4(or later versions) to be connected through a hub or dock that supports a USB 3 or lower version of USB via a USB Type A or C connector. This invention eliminates such requirements and allows the device to be connected directly to such host device by adding a physical switch to its design based on such implementation as described above.

[0020] It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in carrying out theabove method and in the construction set forth without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

[0021] It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall there between.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A switch capable of being operatively coupled between a peripheral device and a host device comprising: a physical port on the switch; a protocol switch, the protocol switch exhibiting a first state and a second state, the switch characterized by enabling, when the protocol switch is in a first state, the host device to have a first physical port and a first communication protocol to communicate with the peripheral device, the peripheral device, having a second communication port, different in form from the first communication port, the peripheral device having a second protocol being different than the first protocol.

2. The switch of claim 1, wherein the protocol switch is a software command.

3. The switch of claim 1, wherein the protocol switch is a physical switch.

4. The switch of claim 1, wherein a peripheral device supporting a Thunderbolt 4+ device or a USB 4 device connected to one of a Thunderbolt 3+ port or a USB 4 port on the host device is caused to connect as a USB 3 interface or earlier versions of USB.

5. The switch of claim 1, wherein each peripheral includes at least one of a hub, a dock, a memory card, a reader, and a solid-state storage devices.

6. The switch of claim 1 , wherein the host includes one of a tablet, a phone; a desktop, a laptop, and a server computer.

7. The switch of claim 4, wherein the protocol includes one of Thunderbolt4+ or USB 4+.

8. The switch of claim 5, wherein the protocol includes one of Thunderbolt3+ or USB4+.

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