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Community Council | Posts: 4,920 | Thanked: 12,867 times | Joined on May 2012 @ Southerrn Finland
#60
Originally Posted by juiceme View Post
Hence I propose, that there should be 2 separete USB interfaces:

Originally Posted by Hurrian View Post
Well, there's already a USB slave interface up top, so why add a third USB PHY?

I think that in addition to 5 pins on the side of the device (see http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/259/jolla.jpg), a dumb V+ and V- a la Nokia barrel connector power supply would do.

Assuming the connector on the external housing is keyed with a small notch, I doubt people would stick the USB portion into the charging portion.
Well, I was thinking of an use case where you have more than one functionality in the same OH unit, like when there is both wireless charging device or spare battery and something that acts as an USB client.

My idea here was that the charging interface should propably be USB, as that is already implemented in the device and has the proper current sourcing negotiation.
If, at the same time you want to have something there that is controlled by the USB it would need to have the other USB port also.

BTW, about the picture in your post, where you cansee the pins on the backside, is that a real device or an illustration?
If that's a real picture then I belive you are correct, and the OH interface has just one USB.
However, this then begs the question how do you safely determine whether the VC pins are sink or source? And what about the use case where you need both at the same time?

(well, of course you can argue that the VC pins are ALWAYS sink and since the OH in question is able to source current it should be able to power itself... but what about when it's not connected to charger, or if it contains a spare battery, the battery's flat?)

PS: Now as I looked at the picture again I feel there could be another solution to this problem. As it's 5pin connector, ther could be the following pin assignments:
  • GND
  • D+
  • D-
  • Vcc_IN
  • Vcc_OUT