Abstract:
One embodiment as described herein provides enhanced data transmission and charger cable assembly for computing devices in interaction with multiple potential power sources. In one embodiment, a cable assembly is provided having a universal adaptor at a first end of the assembly to connect with any one of a plurality of computing device connectors, each computing device connector corresponding to a separate computing device, and a second adapter at a second end of the assembly, the second adapter having a power regulation and data transmission, the cable to provide power and data to the computing devices via the universal adaptor.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   Under 35 U.S.C. 119(e), this application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/692,405, filed Jun. 20, 2005. 

   BACKGROUND 
   In the last few years the number of cell phones has multiplied, and the number of other electronic devices has also grown. A major issue in the field of cell phone technology is the ability of a phone to maintain full connectivity while recharging its power from some other electronic device, such as a notebook or desktop computers, a car or airplane power source, etc. 
   What is clearly needed is a system and method for an enhanced universal cable that can meet all the requirements for data connectivity while recharging from any of a variety of available power sources, while offering the minimum space and weight possible, and with the highest flexibility and degree of future proofing possible. 
   SUMMARY 
   One embodiment as described herein provides enhanced data transmission and charger cable assembly for computing devices in interaction with multiple potential power sources. In one embodiment, a cable assembly is provided having a universal adaptor at a first end of the assembly to connect with any one of a plurality of computing device connectors, each computing device connector corresponding to a separate computing device, and a second adapter at a second end of the assembly, the second adapter having a power regulation and data transmission, the cable to provide power and data to the computing devices via the universal adaptor. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES 
       FIG. 1  shows an overview of the a cable assembly  100  according to one embodiment; 
       FIG. 2  shows an overview of a cable assembly  100  according to a second embodiment; 
       FIG. 3  shows an additional adaptor for use with a low voltage power source from a car or airplane, in accordance with one embodiment; 
       FIG. 4  shows circuitry  400  of parts of the cable assembly, in accordance with one embodiment; 
       FIG. 5  illustrates an overview of the circuitry  500  of the cable assembly  100 , in accordance with one embodiment; and 
       FIG. 6  shows the circuitry of USB connector and power regulator  120 , in accordance with one embodiment. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   In the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical, electrical, functional, and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims. 
     FIG. 1  shows an overview of a cable assembly  100  according to one embodiment. Cable  100  has a USB connector  104  that typically would plug into a notebook or laptop computer (not shown). Connector  104  may contain a voltage regulator and data transmission unit  120 , which is described in greater detail below. Connector  104  may also have an adaptation and/or regulator with over-voltage protection  110 . Cable  100  has a cable section  101  with a coil section  105  that ends in a universal adaptor  102 . This universal adaptor  102  may have the same number of pins as the USB connector, or it may have additional pins for purposes described below. Finally, there is a model-specific cell phone connector  103  that may contain additional circuitry  130 , such as a voltage up-converter that some phones may require. 
     FIG. 2  shows an overview of a cable assembly  100  according to a second embodiment.  FIG. 2  shows essentially the same cable assembly  100  as is shown in  FIG. 1 , but the USB connector now has a universal adaptor  202 , in addition to the elements previously described in the discussion of  FIG. 1 . Adaptor  202  allows the cable section  101  to be completely detached from both intelligent connectors  104  and  103 , thus offering greater flexibility of usage; for example, allowing the option of various cable lengths. 
     FIG. 3  shows an additional adaptor for use with a low voltage power source from a car or airplane. Section  301  is a car adaptor head with a central connecting pin  302  and peripheral springs  303   a  and  303   b , which provide an airplane-like receptacle  304 , where the airplane connector  311  may plug in with its airplane connector side  310 . The airplane adaptor provides for multiple USB or universal connectors  312  a-n. Also, adaptor  311  may contain voltage conditioning and preparation circuitry  320  for down-transforming the voltage to the 5 volts typically provided by USB connectors such as  312  a-n. By connecting the two parts (car adaptor  301  and airplane connector  311 ), a “normal” car connector is created. There may be an additional latch or hook (not shown) to provide a better hold between the two sections and avoid accidental disconnect of the car adaptor section in a socket. 
     FIG. 4  shows circuitry  400  of parts of the cable assembly, in accordance with one embodiment. One part is the circuitry  320  that could be contained in connector  311 , and another part is the electrical schematics for adaptor section  301 . Adaptor section  301  is mostly a mechanical adaptor. It is essentially a pass-through of the center low voltage (12-volt) pin of the car socket  422  to the positive pin of the airplane style socket at the other end, which would otherwise be the 28 volts that would come from an airplane socket at  421 . Inside unit  311  there is, as mentioned previously, circuitry  320  that contains a voltage conditioner  401  that can filter the electrical input to eliminate spikes and protect from over-voltage and reverse polarity, etc. The dc-dc voltage regulator  402  is provided to prepare the voltage for the USB or universal connectors  312  a-n and supply those connectors  312   a - n  in bus form. 
   At the same time, in some cases a microcontroller or system on a chip  410  may be present. It has separate connections to each of the USB and/or universal connectors. In this example three are shown, but it is clear that there could be any number, from one to has high as five or even 10 or more. This system on a chip (SOC) could, for example, allow two devices that are charging simultaneously to exchange data as well by acting as a USB-on-the-go hub or as a dual-ported host to download data. 
   Different applications may be stored in system on a chip  410 , as indicated by operating system software  420 . In some cases, hooking up one of the USB connectors  312  a-n to a PC would allow updating or modification of the software  420 . Also, in other cases, depending on the devices connected, the SOC may use line  414  to modify the voltages for one or all of the output connectors shown. 
     FIG. 5  is an overview of the circuitry  500  of the cable assembly  100 , as shown in  FIG. 1 . The USB connection  501  goes into connector  104  that contains the circuitry  120  and in some cases also contains universal adaptor  202 . Cable assembly  100  also has, at the other end of cable  101 , universal adaptor  102 . There is also a connection  503  that may be the same as USB, or it may contain additional pins for various purposes. Adaptor piece  103  may also contain its own circuitry  130 , and it will be, in most cases, just an elects mechanical adaptor, rewiring the data and power pins as required and delivering them as connector  502 , which is typically specific to a phone or group of phones. 
     FIG. 6  shows the circuitry of USB connector and power regulator  120 , in accordance with one embodiment. The USB connection  501  enters and is split into a data path  610 . The power goes into the input filter  602 , from where it goes to a dc-dc converter  603  and is supplied to cable  101 . At the other side, microprocessor  604  contains code that can also control the dc-dc converter via connection  605  and is able to talk both to a host computer through connection  610  and to the phone through connection  611 . Typically, microprocessor  604  also has a nonvolatile memory  606  and an operating system  607 . The operating system  607  may reside in said nonvolatile memory  606  or it may be masked, or it may be present in any combination. For example, certain phones may require a different voltage than the typical 4.2 or 4.5 volts, and after applying a low “safe” voltage, the processor  604  may communicate with the phone and detect the phone model. Processor  604  may then change the voltage of dc-dc converter  603  to match the voltage required for this phone model for optimal charging. Similar circuitry in connector  103  may be used to further condition the voltage or in some cases to up-convert to a higher voltage, because some phones require a voltage in the 6 to 9 voltage range, which is typically not supplied by the USB connector. 
   At least some embodiments, and the different structure and functional elements described herein, can be implemented using hardware, firmware, programs of instruction, or combinations of hardware, firmware, and programs of instructions. 
   In general, routines executed to implement the embodiments can be implemented as part of an operating system or a specific application, component, program, object, module or sequence of instructions referred to as “computer programs.” The computer programs typically comprise one or more instructions set at various times in various memory and storage devices in a computer, and that, when read and executed by one or more processors in a computer, cause the computer to perform operations to execute elements involving the various aspects. 
   While some embodiments have been described in the context of fully functioning computers and computer systems, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various embodiments are capable of being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms and are capable of being applied regardless of the particular type of machine or computer-readable media used to actually effect the distribution. 
   Examples of computer-readable media include but are not limited to recordable and non-recordable type media such as volatile and non-volatile memory devices, read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory devices, floppy and other removable disks, magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media (e.g., Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD ROMS), Digital Versatile Disks, (DVDs), etc.), among others. The instructions can be embodied in digital and analog communication links for electrical, optical, acoustical or other forms of propagated signals, such as carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc. 
   A machine readable medium can be used to store software and data which when executed by a data processing system causes the system to perform various methods. The executable software and data can be stored in various places including for example ROM, volatile RAM, non-volatile memory and/or cache. Portions of this software and/or data can be stored in any one of these storage devices. 
   In general, a machine readable medium includes any mechanism that provides (i.e., stores and/or transmits) information in a form accessible by a machine (e.g., a computer, network device, personal digital assistant, manufacturing tool, any device with a set of one or more processors, etc.). 
   Some aspects can be embodied, at least in part, in software. That is, the techniques can be carried out in a computer system or other data processing system in response to its processor, such as a microprocessor, executing sequences of instructions contained in a memory, such as ROM, volatile RAM, non-volatile memory, cache, magnetic and optical disks, or a remote storage device. Further, the instructions can be downloaded into a computing device over a data network in a form of compiled and linked version. 
   Alternatively, the logic to perform the processes as discussed above could be implemented in additional computer and/or machine readable media, such as discrete hardware components as large-scale integrated circuits (LSI&#39;s), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC&#39;s), or firmware such as electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM&#39;s). 
   In various embodiments, hardwired circuitry can be used in combination with software instructions to implement the embodiments. Thus, the techniques are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software nor to any particular source for the instructions executed by the data processing system. 
   In this description, various functions and operations are described as being performed by or caused by software code to simplify description. However, those skilled in the art will recognize what is meant by such expressions is that the functions result from execution of the code by a processor, such as a microprocessor. 
   Although some of the drawings illustrate a number of operations in a particular order, operations which are not order dependent can be reordered and other operations can be combined or broken out. While some reordering or other groupings are specifically mentioned, others will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art and so do not present an exhaustive list of alternatives. Moreover, it should be recognized that the stages could be implemented in hardware, firmware, software or any combination thereof. 
   In the foregoing specification, the disclosure has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will be evident that various modifications can be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.