CN102263423A - Universal serial bus charging system and its charging method - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a universal serial bus charging system and a charging method thereof. The charging system of the universal serial bus is provided with a line concentration device, the line concentration device is provided with a charging function module and a plurality of connecting ports, the charging function module dynamically distributes charging current larger than USB standard current to the connecting ports according to the power supply capacity of a power supply unit, so that the power supply unit provides the charging current to the at least one chargeable device, and the at least one chargeable device is charged.

Description

Universal serial bus charging system and its charging method

【Technical field】

The invention relates to a USB charging system and method thereof, in particular to a USB charging system and method using large current charging.

【Background technique】

In recent years, Universal Serial Bus (hereinafter referred to as USB) connection port (Port) has been widely used in various portable electronic products such as mobile phones and digital cameras. When charging is needed, these portable electronic products can be charged through the USB connection port, and are equipped with a special charger corresponding to the connection port, or directly connected to the computer through the USB connection port to charge through the computer. According to the USB 2.0 protocol specification, the charging current that the USB connection port can provide is between 100 mA and 500 mA. The batteries of portable electronic products are charged, so that the charging speed is relatively slow and takes a long time to charge. Therefore, the battery charging specifications of some portable electronic products also allow computers and hubs (Hub) to provide higher charging currents to shorten the charging time of the portable electronic products.

However, due to cost considerations, the number of connection ports that the existing computer can provide to the hub with a higher charging current is limited, and there are only a few fixed connection ports. When a portable electronic product is plugged into a connection port that does not provide a large charging current for charging, the portable electronic product cannot be charged quickly, which lacks the disadvantage of flexible charging.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a prior art proposes an additional setting of an electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory, EEPROM) to store which connection ports have rechargeable functions, and then the hub To read the data stored in the EEPROM, to solve the above-mentioned shortcoming of the lack of flexibility of the fixed connection port, but this method increases the cost of the EEPROM components.

Another existing technology to solve the above-mentioned problem is to connect a pin (Pin) according to each connection port in the Hub Controller IC, and the Hub Controller IC uses the level of the pin to determine which connection ports With fast charging function. However, today's integrated circuit chips are becoming more and more sophisticated, and the area occupied by the chips on the board is getting smaller and smaller. Therefore, it is more difficult and costly to add pins on the chip.

Therefore, it is necessary to provide a portable electronic product for high-current charging to solve the above-mentioned problems.

【Content of invention】

In view of this, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a USB charging system and its method, which can reduce the cost of additional electronic components, and achieve a hub connection port that can be dynamically switched and charged.

To achieve the above purpose, the present invention provides a USB charging system, which includes a power supply unit and a hub device. Wherein the power supply unit is used to provide the power supply capability required for charging. The hub device is connected to the power supply unit for connecting at least one rechargeable device for charging. The hub device includes several connection ports and a charging function module. The connecting ports are used for connecting the at least one rechargeable device.

The charging function module is used for distributing a charging current greater than the USB specification current to the connection ports, so as to provide the charging current to the at least one rechargeable device, wherein the charging function module includes: a charging capacity calculator, according to the power supply The power supply capability of the unit calculates a rechargeable count value; and a charging connection port controller is used to dynamically specify whether one of the connection ports is a charging connection port, and determine whether the charging connection port is a charging connection port according to the rechargeable count value The at least one rechargeable device is for charging.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the rechargeable count value is a quotient of dividing the supply current value of the power supply unit by the charging current value. Wherein the charging port controller specifies whether one of the connecting ports is a charging port is selected from the connecting ports to which the rechargeable devices are connected. Furthermore, the charging connection port controller designates the connection port connected to the device as a standard connection port or a charging connection port according to the chargeable count value. In addition, the line gathering device also includes a line gathering function module for judging whether the connection port is over-current.

The present invention also provides a universal serial bus charging method, which is applicable to a universal serial bus charging system for charging. The charging system includes a line gathering device and a power supply unit. The line gathering device has a charging function module and several connection port, and the hub device can be connected to a USB host end, the universal serial bus charging method includes the following steps:

(a) the charging system performs an initialization procedure on the connection ports to generate a rechargeable count;

(b) The charging function module detects whether a device is connected to one of the connection ports, if yes, execute step (c), if not, continue to execute step (b) until there is the device connected to these connections one of the ports;

(c) the charging function module determines whether the device is a rechargeable device, if yes, execute step (d), if not, the connection port designated by the charging function module to be connected to the device is designated as a standard connection port, and performing step (d1); and

(d) The charging function module judges whether the rechargeable count value is zero, if yes, the connection port designated by the charging function module to be connected to the device is designated as a standard connection port, and step (d1) is executed, if not, The connection port designated by the charging function module to be connected to the device is designated as a charging connection port, and step (d2) is performed, wherein step (d) includes the following steps:

(d1) When the connection port is designated as the standard connection port, the charging function module maintains the rechargeable count value in a constant state, and the charging function module controls the power supply unit to provide via the connection port less than the USB specification an operating current of current to the device to perform standard USB functions; and

(d2) When the connection port is designated as the charging connection port, the charging function module decrements the rechargeable count value by one, and the charging function module controls the power supply unit to start supplying a charging current to the charging connection port via the connection port The device performs a charging procedure, wherein the charging current is greater than the USB specification current.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, after step (d) is performed, the following steps are further included:

(e) When performing the charging procedure, the hub device judges whether the connection port is over-current, if so, the charging function module increases the rechargeable count value by one, and the connection port provides an operation current less than the USB specification current to the device to perform standard USB functions, if not, perform step (f); and

(f) The charging function module judges whether the device connected to the port has been removed or the charging procedure has been completed, if yes, the rechargeable count value is increased by one, and then returns to step (b), if not, continues to execute step ( f) until the device connected to the port is removed or the charging procedure is completed.

According to the USB charging system and method thereof of the present invention, the dynamic switch of the connection port of the hub device is used to improve the traditional charging connection port and reduce the cost of components.

In order to make the above content of the present invention more obvious and understandable, the following preferred embodiments are specifically cited below, and in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, the detailed description is as follows:

【Description of drawings】

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a USB charging system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a USB charging system according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the initialization of the USB charging method of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the USB charging method of the present invention.

【Detailed ways】

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with the accompanying drawings and the following descriptions. In different drawings, the same reference numerals represent the same or similar components.

Referring to FIG. 1 , it shows a block diagram of a universal serial bus (Universal Serial Bus, hereinafter referred to as USB) charging system in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The USB charging system 10 includes a power supply unit 200 , a hub device 300 , a current limiting device 400 and a charging status display unit 450 . The power supply unit 200 is used for providing power required for charging, so as to provide a DC current to the hub device 300 . In one embodiment, the power supply unit 200 is, for example, an external transformer, such as using an AC/DC adapter (AC/DC Adaptor) to convert the AC power of the commercial power into a DC current, and then supply the DC current to the hub device 300; In another example, the power supply unit 200 is disposed on the motherboard, such as a current conversion element built in the motherboard.

The hub device 300 of the present invention is connected to the power supply unit 200, and the hub device 300 is used to electrically connect at least one rechargeable device 500 for charging. The rechargeable devices 500 are represented by a first device 500a to a fourth device 500d. The hub device 300 includes a charging function module 310, a hub function module 320 and a plurality of connection ports (Ports) 350, represented by a first connection port 350a to a fourth connection port 350d. The power unit 200 and the hub device 300 are disposed on the same circuit board, for example, the power unit 200 and the hub device 300 are disposed on a motherboard, but the present invention can also be implemented separately.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a current limiting device 400 for limiting the charging current is also provided between the connection ports 350 and the rechargeable devices 500, so as to prevent excessive current from passing through the rechargeable devices 500, To protect the rechargeable devices 500, the current limiting device 400 is, for example, composed of a poly fuse or a power switch. In FIG. 1 , the first connection port 350a to the fourth connection port 350d are connected to the current limiting device 400a to the current limiting device 400d respectively, but it is not limited to this method, for example, connecting multiple connection ports 350 (for example, 2) In the same current limiting device 400. For example, if the charging current is 1.5A (ampere), the limit of the charging current limited by the current limiting device 400 must be greater than 1.5A, such as 1.8A.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the charging status display unit 450 is connected to the hub device 300 to display the current charging status. To control the blinking or luminous color of the light-emitting diodes to identify the charging status of the rechargeable device 500 connected to the connection port 350 .

In the hub device 300 in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the hub function module 320 controls the data transmission of the device connected to the hub device 300 according to the USB specification protocol, and the hub function module 320 includes an overcurrent detection Detector (Over-current Detector) 321, the over-current detector 321 cooperates with the current limiting device 400 to detect whether the current exceeds the current limit of the current limiting device. It should be noted that the implementation of the hub function module 320 is not limited to a hub, and can also be a USB compound device (USB compound device), such as a compound device that integrates other functions in a hub.

A plurality of connection ports 350 are disposed on the hub device 300 to serve as interfaces for the hub device 300 to connect to the rechargeable devices 500 to transmit charging current to the rechargeable devices 500 . These connection ports 350 are divided into "standard connection port (Standard Port)" and "chargeable connection port (Chargeable Port)" according to the size of the charging current, wherein the "standard connection port" means that the connection port 350 provides USB standard current, The “charging connection port” means that the connection port 350 provides a current greater than the USB standard current, so as to charge the rechargeable devices 500 quickly and with a large current. In FIG. 1 , the hub device 300 is provided with a first connection port 350 a to a fourth connection port 350 d , and more or less connection ports 350 may be provided.

The above-mentioned USB standard current is based on the standard announced by the USB Implementers Forum, Inc., for example, the USB 2.0 standard current indicates that when the device (Device) is in standby (Suspend), it is 2.5 milliamps (mA), 100mA when the device is not in standby and not configured, 500mA when the device is not in standby and configured; Super Speed) mode, when the device is a low-power device (Low-Power Device), it is 150mA, and when the device is a high-power device (High-Power Device), it is 900mA.

The charging function module 310 is located in the hub device 300 . The charging function module 310 distributes a charging current greater than the USB standard current to the rechargeable devices 500 according to the power supply capability of the power supply unit 200 for fast charging.

Furthermore, the charging function module 310 includes a charging capacity calculator 311 and a charging connection port controller 312. The charging capacity calculator 311 is used to estimate the magnitude of the current provided by the power supply unit 200 to calculate the amount of current that can be provided to a rechargeable device. 500 multiples of the charging current, that is, it is calculated that several charging currents greater than the USB standard current can be provided to the connection port 350 at most. For example, when it is desired to provide a charging current of 1.5A to a connection port 350 (that is, it is regarded as a charging connection port), and the total supply current of the power supply unit 200 is 4.5A, then 4.5/1.5=3, the charging capacity calculator 311 It is calculated that three connection ports 350 can be provided for charging, and this number is called a chargeable account (Chargeable Account). It is worth noting that 1.5A is greater than the USB 2.0 specification current of 500mA, which is the maximum limit current of USB 2.0.

In addition, the charging connection port controller 312 has the function of controlling the opening of the connection ports 350 to detect the rechargeable device, so as to detect whether the device connected to the connection port 350 is the rechargeable device 500 . At the same time, the charging connection port controller 312 allocates charging resources to determine which charging devices 500 connected to the connection ports 350 are provided for charging. The connection ports 350 are assigned a charging current greater than the USB standard current, and are selected from the connection ports 350 to which the rechargeable device 500 is connected, and are not limited to specific connection ports 350 . Therefore, the charging port controller 312 can dynamically designate the port 350 as the charging port, that is, the charging port controller 312 dynamically switches the port 350 to select the port as the charging port. For example, in FIG. 1, when the first device 500a is connected to the first connection port 350a via the current limiting device 400a, the first connection port 350a is regarded as a charging connection port, and the charging connection port controller 312 distributes a current greater than the USB specification ( For example, a charging current of 1.5A) is supplied to the first connection port 350 a to charge the rechargeable device 500 .

The operation mode of the USB charging system 10 is described as follows:

The charging port controller 312 determines whether the charging port 350 connected to the device is designated as a standard port or a charging port according to the charging count value. For example, the charging connection port controller 312 judges whether the chargeable count value is zero, if yes, the charging connection port controller 312 specifies that the connection port 350 connected to the device is designated as a standard connection port, if not, the charging connection port The port controller 312 designates the port 350 to which the device is connected to be designated as a charging port.

When carrying out the charging procedure, the overcurrent detector 321 of the hub function module 320 is used to judge whether the connection port 350 is overcurrent, and if so, the charging connection port controller 312 increases the chargeable count value by one , and the connection port 350 provides an operating current less than the USB specification current to the device to perform standard USB functions, and if not, continues charging. Wherein the over-current refers to whether the over-current detector 321 detects whether the current exceeds the limited current of the current-limiting device 400 .

Wherein after continuous charging, the charging connection port controller 312 also judges whether the device of the connection port 350 has been removed or the charging process has been completed, if yes, the rechargeable count value is increased and the charging process is ended, if not , then continue charging until the device connected to the port 350 is removed or the charging process is completed.

It should be noted that the number of the charging port controller 312 to determine which ports 350 are charging ports is not limited to the chargeable count value, which represents a dynamic selection. Likewise, which charging ports are enabled by the charging port controller 312 is not limited by the chargeable count value, which represents a dynamic selection. For example, the charging count value is 2, but the charging port controller 312 determines that all the first connecting port 350 a to the fourth connecting port 350 d can be assigned as the charging port. Therefore, the first connection port 350 a to the fourth connection port 350 d are all turned on to detect whether a rechargeable device is connected to the connection ports 350 . Any two connection ports 350 among the first connection port 350 a to the fourth connection port 350 d can be assigned as charging connection ports to achieve dynamic selection.

Referring to FIG. 2 , it shows a block diagram of a USB charging system in another preferred embodiment of the present invention. The USB charging system 10 includes the above-mentioned power supply unit 200, hub device 300, current limiting device 400 and charging status display unit. In addition to 450, a USB host terminal (USB Host) 100 is also included. The USB host 100 is used to control the timing and direction of data transmission on the Universal Serial Bus, and is usually installed in a computer system (not shown), and the hub device 300 is connected to the USB through a connection port (not shown). USB host side 100.

The USB host terminal 100 can perform a charging initialization function for the USB charging system 10 , and the details will be described later. The USB host 100, the power supply unit 200 and the hub device 300 are disposed on the same circuit board, for example, the power unit 200 and the hub device 300 are disposed on the USB host 100, but the present invention can also be disposed separately. In addition, the functions of other components are the same as those described in FIG. 1 , and will not be repeated here.

The USB charging system 10 of the present invention uses the charging function module 310 of the hub device 30 to distribute a charging current greater than the USB standard current according to the power supply capacity of the power supply unit 200, so as to charge these rechargeable devices 500 and improve the traditional charging connection port. The disadvantage of being limited to fixed connection ports saves the cost of EEPROM components and does not need to occupy additional board area.

The present invention further utilizes the above-mentioned USB charging system to perform a USB charging method. Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 , FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of initialization of the USB charging method of the present invention. The initialization flowchart represents the steps of the charging function module 310 performing initialization on the connection ports 350 to generate a chargeable account (Chargeable Account).

In step S11 , the charging capability calculator 311 of the charging function module 310 determines the number of charging connection ports of the hub device 300 , that is, uses the charging capability calculator 311 to generate a chargeable count value. The rechargeable count value represents the number of connection ports that can be charged at present (such as providing a charging current of 1.5A). For example, the power supply unit 200 has a power supply capacity of 4.8A, and the charging current is calculated with 1.5A. The maximum rechargeable count value is 3, which means that the hub device 300 can provide 3 connection ports (referred to as charging connection ports) for fast charging. It should be noted that after the charging capacity calculator 311 generates the rechargeable count value, the charging capacity calculator 311 and the charging connection port controller 312 calculate the rechargeable count value according to the usage status of each charging connection port. The increase or decrease will be described in detail later.

In step S12, the charging connection port controller 312 of the charging function module 310 determines which connection ports are charging connection ports, that is, the charging connection port controller 312 specifies which connection ports are charging connection ports, for example, when the hub device 300 has When there are four connection ports and the rechargeable count value is 3, the first connection port, the second connection port and the fourth connection port are designated as the charging connection port (Chargeable Port), and the third connection port is designated as the standard connection port (StandardPort ).

It should be noted that the charging connection port controller 312 determines which connection ports are the number of charging connection ports is not limited to the chargeable count value, for example, when the chargeable count value is 3, the first connection port 350a, the second connection port The port 350b, the third connecting port 350c and the fourth connecting port 350d can all be charging connecting ports, but only three of the connecting ports 350 can be designated as charging connecting ports, and the charging connecting port controller 312 can designate the charging connecting ports. Ability range is 4.

In step S13 , the charging connection port controller 312 of the charging function module 310 opens the charging connection ports to detect whether there is a rechargeable device connected to the charging connection port. For example, the first connection port 350a, the second connection port 350b and the fourth connection port 350d enable the detection of the rechargeable device, and the third connection port 350c disables the detection of the rechargeable device. After detecting that the rechargeable device 500 is connected to the charging port, the charging port controller 312 and the rechargeable device 500 complete the subsequent handshaking procedure (Handshaking Procedure). In the handshaking procedure, the charging port controller 312 Notify (Acknowledge) that the connection port 350 to which the rechargeable device 500 is connected supports fast high-current charging.

In addition, it should be noted that which charging ports are enabled by the charging port controller 312 is not limited to the charging count value. When in step S12, the capacity range designated as a charging connection port is 4, but the charging count value is 3, that is, the actual number of charging connection ports is 3, but in step S13, the charging connection port controller 312 can enable the detection of rechargeable devices for the four connection ports 350 . For example, when a rechargeable device 500 is connected to any port 350 , the rechargeable device 500 is notified that the connected port 350 supports fast charging, that is, it is designated as a charging port.

Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , the present invention is not limited to be initialized only by the charging function module 310 , and can also be selected by an application program (Application Program) of the USB host terminal 100 . The following describes the initialization process of the USB charging method implemented by the USB charging system according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Execute step S11, an application program of the USB host terminal 100 determines the number of chargeable charging connection ports of the hub device 300, that is, the USB host terminal 100 obtains a chargeable count value (Chargeable Account). The rechargeable count value is still limited by the maximum value of the rechargeable count value of the power supply capability calculator 311 , for example, the number is two.

Step S12 is executed, and the application program of the USB host 100 determines which connection ports 350 can be charged. For example, the setting is fixed so that the first connection port 350a and the second connection port 350b are designated as charging connection ports.

It is also worth noting that the number of ports designated as charging ports is not limited to the rechargeable count value. For example, in step S11 of another embodiment, for example, the rechargeable count value is 2. Step S12 is executed, and the application program of the USB host 100 selects the second connection port 350b, the third connection port 350c and the fourth connection port 350d to be designated as charging connection ports.

Step S13 is executed. Step S13 represents that the charging connection port controller 312 of the charging function module 310 starts to detect the charging connection ports to detect the rechargeable device 500 .

In addition, when the range of the designated rechargeable connection ports in step S12 is the second connection port 350b, the third connection port 350c and the fourth connection port 350d, but the rechargeable count value is 2, that is, there are actually 2 charging ports. The connection port 350, execute step S13, the charging connection port controller 312 of the charging function module 310 opens and detects the second connection port 350b, the third connection port 350c and the fourth connection port 350d, and detects the rechargeable device 500 .

Referring to FIGS. 1 , 2 and 4 , FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of the USB charging method of the present invention. In one embodiment and another embodiment of the present invention, after performing the initialization steps of the above-mentioned USB charging method in FIG. The second connection port 350b and the fourth connection port 350d are charging connection ports, and the USB charging method flow includes the following steps:

In step S20, the charging connection port controller 312 of the charging function module 310 detects whether a device is connected to one of the charging connection ports, if yes, executes step S30; if not, executes step S20 until detection When there are devices connected to the charging ports, step S30 is executed. For example, the first device 500a is connected to one of the first connection port 350a, the second connection port 350b and the fourth connection port 350d to connect to a device. In addition, when the device is connected to the third connection port, it is directly designated as a standard connection port.

In step S30, the charging connection port controller 312 of the charging function module 310 determines whether the device is a rechargeable device 500, if yes, executes step S40; if not, executes step S50, to designate the connection port as a standard connection port, and then execute step S51. For example, the first device 500a and the second device 500b are respectively connected to the first connection port and the second connection port, and the charging connection port controller 312 detects that both the first device 500a and the second device 500b are rechargeable devices.

Specifically, the charging connection port controller 312 determines whether the connected device is a rechargeable device 500 with a battery through detection, and completes the handshaking procedure (Handshaking Procedure) with the rechargeable device 500 . For the manner in which the charging port controller 312 detects whether the first device 500a is a rechargeable device, please refer to the Battery Charging Specification (Revision 1.1, April/15/2009) announced by the USB Application Forum Company.

In step S40, the charging connection port controller 312 of the charging function module 310 judges whether the rechargeable count value is zero, if yes, executes step S50, the connection port is designated as a standard connection port, and then executes step S51 ; If not, execute step S60 to designate the connection port as the charging connection port, and then execute step S61.

It should be noted that, in the USB charging method of the present invention, the rechargeable count value being zero represents that the charging resource is used up, and the unit for increasing and decreasing the rechargeable count value is one. For example, the rechargeable count value is 2, the first device 500a and the second device 500b are rechargeable devices, and after the first connection port 350a and the second connection port 350b each occupy a rechargeable count value, the rechargeable count value is zero. Afterwards, rechargeable devices such as the third device 500c and the fourth device 500d are respectively connected to the third connection port 350c and the fourth connection port 350d, the third connection port 350c is designated as a standard connection port due to initialization, and the fourth connection port After the port 350d is judged in step S40, when the current rechargeable count value is zero, step S50 is executed.

In step S50, the connection port is designated as a standard connection port, when the connection port is designated as a standard connection port, and the charging connection port controller 312 of the charging function module 310 maintains the rechargeable count value unchanged, And the charging function module 310 controls the current unit 200 to provide an operating current smaller than the USB specification current to the device (eg, the fourth device 500d) via the connection port 350, and then executes step S51, that is, only executes standard USB functions. The standard connection port refers to the connection port 350 that does not provide a large current for charging. Furthermore, the standard USB function refers to an operation mode in which the current supply does not exceed the USB protocol specification.

In step S60, when the connection port 350 is designated as the charging connection port, step S61 is executed, the charging connection port controller 312 decrements the rechargeable count value by one, and the charging function module 310 controls the power supply unit 200 to A charging current is provided to the device (for example, the first device 500 a ) via the connection port 350 to perform a charging process, wherein the charging current is greater than the USB specification current.

The charging connection port refers to the connection port 350 that can provide a large current for charging. In a preferred embodiment, a charging current of 1.5A is provided for charging. In addition, the present invention can also be implemented by designating the connection port 350 as a dedicated charging connection port (Dedicated Charging Port). In addition, when step S40 is executed, the charging state display unit 450 is turned on to identify the current charging state.

In step S70, after starting the charging process, the over-current detector 321 of the hub function module 320 judges whether the device (such as the first device 500a) connected to the port is over-current (Over-current), and if so, executes the step S51, the charging connection port controller 312 increases the chargeable count value by one, and the connection port 350 provides an operating current according to the USB specification current to the device (for example, the first device 500a), and only performs standard USB functions; If not, execute step S80. The overcurrent means that when the rechargeable device 500 receives a charging current greater than the USB standard current, it reports an overcurrent signal to the USB host 100, indicating that the device does not allow high current charging. Or it is judged whether the charging current exceeds the charging current limited by the current limiting device 400 .

It should be noted that the over-current detector 321 does not detect whether there is an over-current until step S70 , and the over-current detector 321 cooperates with the current limiting device 400 to continuously detect whether there is an over-current. When the current limiting device 400 does not allow the current to pass through, it notifies the over-current detector 321 so that the charging connection port controller 312 closes the connection port 350 to protect the hub device 300 . If an overcurrent occurs, the charging connection port controller 312 first closes the connection port 350, and then after the connection port 350 is enabled automatically or manually (restart device), the connection port 350 is designated as a standard connection port, that is, as if it was not initialized. The connection port 350 is designated as a charging connection port. If the connection port 350 is to be used as a charging connection port again, the hub device 300 needs to be restarted, and it must be designated during initialization or reset through the application program of the USB host terminal 100 .

In step S80, the charging connection port controller 312 of the charging function module 310 judges whether the device connected to the port (for example, the first device 500a) has been removed or the charging procedure has been completed. The count value is increased by one, and returns to the above-mentioned detection whether there are devices connected to these charging connection ports, that is, step S20 is executed; removed or the charging procedure has been completed.

In step S90, when another device is connected to the other charging ports, and when the port of the other device is designated as a standard port, the charging port controller 312 of the charging function module 310 Judging whether the chargeable count value is greater than zero, the charging connection port controller 312 judging whether the other device is a rechargeable device, and the overcurrent detector 321 in the hub function module 320 judging the other device's Whether there is no overcurrent at the connection port, if all of the above three are true (that is, the charging count value>0, the other device is a rechargeable device, and "not" overcurrent are all established), go to step S80, if the three If at least one of them is negative, the connection port of the other device is continuously designated as a standard connection port to perform standard USB functions. For example, the other device is the fourth device 500d connected to the fourth connection port 350d. After the charging of the second device 500b is completed, the charging count value is increased by one, and when the fourth connection port 350d is changed from the originally designated standard connection port to the charging connection port and there is no overcurrent, the charging procedure is carried out, and then the judgment procedure of step S80 is carried out. .

In summary, the USB charging system and its charging method of the present invention use the charging function module in the hub device to distribute a charging current greater than the USB standard current according to the power supply capacity of the power supply unit to charge these rechargeable devices. Improvement of the traditional charging connection port is a fixed disadvantage, and reduces the cost of EEPROM components and does not need to occupy board space. Furthermore, the USB charging method of the present invention provides a method for dynamically switching charging connection ports of the hub.

Claims (16)

1. A universal serial bus charging system, comprising a power supply unit and a hub device, wherein the power supply unit is used to provide a charging power, the hub device is connected to the power supply unit and is used to connect at least one rechargeable device For charging, the hub device includes a plurality of connection ports for connecting at least one rechargeable device, characterized in that: the hub device also includes a charging function module, the charging function module is coupled to the power supply unit , for distributing a charging current greater than the universal serial bus specification current to the connection ports, so that the power supply unit provides the charging current to the at least one rechargeable device, the charging function module includes: a charging capacity calculator and a charging connection port controller, wherein the charging capacity calculator calculates a chargeable count value according to the charging power of the power supply unit, and the charging connection port controller is used to dynamically designate whether one of the connection ports is a charging connection port, And according to the rechargeable count value, it is determined whether the charging connection port charges the at least one rechargeable device. 2. The USB charging system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rechargeable count value is a quotient of dividing the supply current value of the power supply unit by the charging current value. 3. The USB charging system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the charging connection port controller designates the connection port connected to the device as a standard connection port or a standard connection port according to the chargeable count value. It is a charging connection port. 4 . The USB charging system according to claim 1 , wherein the cable hub device further comprises a cable hub function module for judging whether the connection ports are over-current. 5 . The USB charging system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the number of ports determined by the charging port controller to be charging ports is different from the rechargeable count value. 6 . 6. The USB charging system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a current limiting device between the connection ports and the rechargeable devices. 7. The USB charging system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a charging status display unit connected to the hub device for identifying the current charging status. 8. A universal serial bus charging method, suitable for a universal serial bus charging system, to charge, the charging system includes a hub device and a power supply unit, the hub device has a charging function module and a number of connections port, and the hub device is suitable for connecting a universal serial bus host end, characterized in that: the universal serial bus charging method includes the following steps: (a) the charging system performs an initialization procedure on the connection ports to generate a rechargeable count; (b) The charging function module detects whether a device is connected to one of the connection ports, if yes, execute step (c), if not, continue to execute step (b) until there is the device connected to these connections one of the ports; (c) the charging function module determines whether the device is a rechargeable device, if yes, execute step (d), if not, the connection port designated by the charging function module to be connected to the device is designated as a standard connection port, and performing step (d1); and (d) The charging function module judges whether the rechargeable count value is zero, if yes, the connection port designated by the charging function module to be connected to the device is designated as a standard connection port, and step (d1) is executed, if not, The connection port designated by the charging function module to be connected to the device is designated as a charging connection port, and step (d2) is performed, wherein step (d) includes the following steps: (d1) When the connection port is designated as the standard connection port, the charging function module maintains the rechargeable count value in a constant state, and the charging function module controls the power supply unit to provide a power supply less than the universal string via the connection port. an operating current of row bus specification current to the device to perform a standard universal serial bus function; and (d2) When the connection port is designated as the charging connection port, the charging function module decrements the rechargeable count value by one, and the charging function module controls the power supply unit to start supplying a charging current to the charging connection port via the connection port The device performs a charging procedure, wherein the charging current is greater than the USB specification current. 9. The USB charging method as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that: after the step (d), further comprising the following steps: (e) When performing the charging procedure, the hub device judges whether the connection port is over-current, and if so, the charging function module increases the rechargeable count value by one, and the connection port provides a current less than the universal serial bus specification current operating current to the device to perform a standard Universal Serial Bus function, if not, perform step (f); and (f) The charging function module judges whether the device connected to the port has been removed or the charging procedure has been completed, if yes, the rechargeable count value is increased by one, and then returns to step (b), if not, continues to execute step ( f) until the device at the connection port is removed or the charging process is completed. 10. The USB charging method according to claim 9, wherein judging whether the device connected to the port is over-current is judging whether the charging current value exceeds the current value limited by a current limiting device of the charging system . 11. the universal serial bus charging method as claimed in claim 8 is characterized in that: the initializing step in the step (a) comprises the following steps: (1) The charging function module determines the number of the charging connection ports supported by the hub device to generate the rechargeable count value; (2) The charging function module determines which connection ports are designated as charging connection ports; and (3) The charging function module opens the charging connection ports to detect the charging devices. 12. The universal serial bus charging method as claimed in claim 11, characterized in that: in the step (1), it is determined that the rechargeable count value is obtained by dividing the supply current value of the power supply unit by the quotient of the charging current value . 13. The USB charging method as claimed in claim 11, wherein in step (2), the charging function module determines which connection ports are charging connection ports, and the number of the rechargeable count value is different. 14. The USB charging method according to claim 11, wherein in step (3), the number of which charging connection ports are opened by the charging function module is different from the rechargeable count value. 15. The USB charging method according to claim 8, characterized in that: when another device is connected to another charging connection port, and after the connection port of the other device is designated as a standard connection port, The charging function module judges whether the rechargeable count value is greater than zero, the charging function module judges whether the other device is a rechargeable device, and the hub device judges whether the connection port of the other device has not been over-current, if the above All three, execute step (f), if at least one of the three is no, the connection port of the other device is continuously designated as the standard connection port to perform the standard USB function. 16. The universal serial bus charging method as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that: the initialization step in the step (a) comprises the following steps: (1) Utilize an application program on the USB host end to determine the number of charging connection ports of the hub device to generate the rechargeable count value; (2) Utilize the application program on the USB host side to determine which connection ports can be charged; and (3) The charging port controller opens the charging ports to detect the rechargeable devices.

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