MOBILE DEVICE OF SUPPORTING UART AND USB COMMUNICATION USING SAME CONNECTOR AND OPERATING METHOD THERE-OF

• US 20110060850A1
• Filed: 01/15/2009
• Published: 03/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Bluebird Soft Incorporated (Bluebird,Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bluebird Soft Incorporated (Bluebird,Inc.)
• Inventors: Moon, Shin ho, Park, Yong tae, Ko, Jae in
• Application Number:
  US12/863,390
• Publication Number:
  US 20110060850A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A mobile device for supporting universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) communication and universal serial bus (USB) communication using a single connector and a method thereof are provided. The mobile device includes a USB connector, a USB module selectively connected with the connector to communicate with an external USB device, at least one internal UART device selectively connected with the connector to communicate with an external UART device, a determiner configured to determine whether the connector has been coupled to the external USB device or the external UART device based on a signal applied to at least one of pins of the connector, a switching unit configured to selectively connect data lines of the connector to one among the USB module and the at least one internal UART module based on a determination result of the determiner, and a central processing unit (CPU) configured to control the switching unit, thereby automatically switching the data lines of the connector to an appropriate internal module according to whether a device coupled to the connector is a USB device or a UART device.

Claims

1. A mobile device comprising:

a universal serial bus (USB) connector;

a USB module selectively connected with the connector to communicate with an external USB device;

at least one internal universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) device selectively connected with the connector to communicate with an external UART device;

a determiner configured to determine whether the connector has been coupled to the external USB device or the external UART device based on a signal applied to at least one of pins of the connector;

a switching unit configured to selectively connect data lines of the connector to one among the USB module and the at least one internal UART module based on a determination result of the determiner; and

a central processing unit (CPU) configured to control the switching unit.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the connector comprises a power supply voltage pin, a first data pin and a second data pin for data transmission, and a ground pin;

and the data lines of the connector are respectively connected with the first data pin and the second data pin.

3. The mobile device of claim 2, wherein the determiner determines that the connector has been coupled to the external USB device when the second data pin is a predetermined logic level and a voltage applied to the power supply voltage pin is at least a predetermined level.

4. The mobile device of claim 2, wherein the determiner comprises:

a USB signal detector configured to detect whether an external device coupled to the connector is a USB device based on a power supply voltage applied to the power supply voltage pin of the connector and a signal applied to the second data pin and to generate a USB detection signal; and

a programmable logic device configured to generate and output an alarm signal to the CPU based on the USB detection signal and a system enable signal generated by the CPU,

wherein the CPU generates a control signal for controlling the switching unit based on at least one signal among the system enable signal, the USB detection signal, and the alarm signal.

5. The mobile device of claim 4, wherein the USB signal detector comprises:

a regulator configured to generate an output voltage when the power supply voltage applied to the power supply voltage pin is within a predetermined range;

a voltage detector configured to delay and output the output voltage of the regulator; and

a flip-flop configured to latch and output the signal of the second data pin in response to a detection signal output from the voltage detector.

6. The mobile device of claim 4, wherein the switching unit comprises:

a first switch configured to operate in response to a first switch control signal; and

a second switch configured to selectively connect a data line of the first switch to one terminal between an input/output terminal of the USB module and an input/output terminal of the programmable logic device in response to a second switch control signal,

wherein the first switch selectively connects the data lines of the connector to the second switch or drives the data lines to a high impedance state in response to the first switch control signal and the programmable logic device is controlled by the CPU to connect a data line connected with the input/output terminal of the programmable logic device to one module among the at least internal UART module.

7. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the first switch control signal is set to drive the data lines of the connector to the high-impedance state when the system enable signal is at a first logic level and is set to connect the data lines of the connector to the second switch when the system enable signal is at a second logic level.

8. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the USB module is comprised within the CPU and the at least one internal UART module is at least one among a UART chip, a global positioning system (GPS) module, and a communication modem.

9. The mobile device of claim 8, wherein the CPU generates a path selection signal according to setting by a user and the programmable logic device selectively connects the data line connected with the input/output terminal of the programmable logic device to one among the UART chip, the GPS module, and the communication modem in response to the path selection signal.

10. A method of operating a mobile device, the method comprising:

driving data line of a universal serial bus (USB) connector to a high-impedance state in a system disable state;

detecting a signal applied to the USB connector and determining whether a device coupled to the connector is a USB device; and

selectively connecting the data lines of the connector to one module among an internal USB module and at least one internal universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) module, which are included in the mobile device, based on a determination result in a system enable state.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the connector comprises a power supply voltage pin, a first data pin and a second data pin for data transmission, and a ground pin;

and the determining whether the device is the USB device comprises determining that the connector has been coupled to the USB device when the second data pin is a predetermined logic level and a voltage applied to the power supply voltage pin is at least a predetermined level.