Patent Publication Number: US-2006020723-A1

Title: USB hub with wireless communication function

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      This invention relates to a USB hub, particularly relates to a USB hub with a wireless communication function.  
      2. Description of the Prior Art  
      Nowadays, a variety of portable electronic devices and peripherals are invented and widely used, such as memory cards, card readers, flash disks, portable hard disks, digital cameras, MP3 players, mouse, keyboards, and printers, etc. These devices and computer peripherals usually need to be connected to a host computer for transferring data. Several international communication protocols have been defined for communication among various peripherals. Currently, the universal serial bus (USB) is the most common communication protocol.  
      Sometimes, it is inconvenient because there is limited number of the USB ports in a host system. For example, there are usually only two USB ports in a Notebook. If one of the two USB ports is connected to the USB Dongle, only one USB port is spared for other device. Therefore, finding a method to solve this problem is important.  
      A prior art wireless local area network (LAN) switch which communicates with a personal computer (PC) via a USB interface has been disclosed. The wireless LAN switch includes a USB port for connection with the personal computer, a wireless transceiver, and a plurality of network communication ports. The wireless transceiver of the wireless LAN switch is for wireless communications under LAN only. In addition, the communication ports of the wireless LAN switch are all LAN ports too (for example: RJ45 ports). Therefore, The wireless LAN switch of prior art did not disclose the techniques or the characteristics of the present invention.  
      The U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,015 has disclosed a USB system that includes a first host controller. In the U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,015, a hub is coupled to the first host controller. However, in this U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,015, the USB system and the wireless host are two separated devices, which is different from the technical characteristics of the present invention.  
      The U.S. Pat. No. 6,725,302 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,603,744 have disclosed some wireless USB hubs. Those techniques are different from the technical characteristics of the present invention.  
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
      It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a USB hub with a wireless communication function which combines the conventional USB HUB and the conventional USB Dongle into a single USB device and improves the convenience for users.  
      It is another objective of the present invention to provide a USB hub with a wireless communication function that can reduce the interference among the external USB devices connected to the USB ports, and between the external wireless devices communicated with the wireless interface module through digital delayed circuits.  
      According to the present invention, a USB hub with a wireless communication function is provided. The USB hub includes a USB interface module having a USB upstream port and at least one USB downstream port for connecting to an external host system and at least one external USB device, respectively; a wireless interface module for transferring a wireless signal to/from an external wireless device through a wireless communication medium; and a control circuit, connected to the USB interface module and the wireless interface module, for transferring a digital signal between the external host system and at least one external USB device, and for transferring the wireless signal between the external host system and the external wireless device.  
      These and other objectives of the claimed invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The details of the present invention will be more readily understood from a detailed description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the following figures.  
       FIG. 1  shows an embodiment of the USB hub with a wireless communication function  10  of the present invention for use with various external USB devices;  
       FIG. 2  shows the block diagram of the embodiment of the USB hub with a wireless communication function  10  of the present invention;  
       FIG. 3  shows a detailed circuit of the control circuit  13  of the USB hub  10  according to the embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 4  shows a detailed circuit of the digital wireless/USB communication circuit  121  of the USB hub  10  according to the embodiment of the present invention; and  
       FIG. 5  shows a detailed circuit of the USB interface module  11  of the USB hub  10  according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      The USB hub with a wireless communication function of this invention combines the conventional USB HUB and the conventional USB Dongle into a single USB apparatus. In additions, the USB hub of this invention utilizes the digital delayed circuits to prevent the interference among the external USB devices connected to the USB ports and the external wireless devices communicated with the wireless communication interface module of the USB hub of the present invention. Therefore, it will be convenient for users and fewer USB ports of the host computer are occupied.  
      Please refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 1  shows an embodiment of the USB hub with a wireless communication function  10  of the present invention for use with various external USB devices.  FIG. 2  shows the block diagram of the embodiment of the USB hub with a wireless communication function  10  of the present invention.  
      As shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , the USB hub with a wireless communication function  10  of the present invention comprises a USB interface module  11 , a wireless communication interface module  12 ; a control circuit  13  connected between the USB interface module  11  and the wireless communication interface module  12 ; an antenna  14  connected to the wireless communication interface module  12 ; and a LED  15  connected to the wireless communication interface module  12 .  
      The USB interface module  11  comprises a USB upstream interface circuit  111 ; a USB upstream port  112 ; a plurality of USB downstream interface circuits  1131 ,  1132 , and  1133 ; a plurality of USB downstream ports  1141 ,  1142 , and  1143 ; and a plurality of the second digital delay circuits  1151 ,  1152 , and  1153 . The USB upstream interface circuit  111  is connected between the USB upstream port  112  and the control circuit  13 . The USB upstream port  112  can connect to a host system  91  which has a USB host controller. The host system  91  can be a notebook, a desktop computer, a PDA, etc. The second digital delay circuits  1151 ,  1152 , and  1153  are connected to the control circuit  13 . The USB downstream interface circuits  1131 ,  1132 , and  1133  are connected between the second digital delay circuits  1151 ,  1152 , and  1153  to the USB downstream ports  1141 ,  1142 , and  1143 , respectively. Each of the USB downstream ports  1141 ,  1142 , and  1143  can be connected to the external USB devices  92 ,  93 , and  94 , respectively. The external USB devices can be USB flash disk  92 , card reader  93 , USB printer  94 , USB wireless mouse, USB external hard disk, USB external CD ROM, USB scanner, digital camera, cell phone, and another USB hub. Through the control circuit  13 , the host system  91  can utilize the USB downstream ports  1141 ,  1142 , and  1143  to connect to a plurality of external USB devices  92 ,  93 , and  94 , respectively.  
      The host system  91  can communicate with the external USB devices  92 ,  93 , and  94  through the USB hub  10  of the present invention. The external USB devices  92 ,  93  and  94  cannot communicate with each other through the control circuit  13  of the USB hub  10  of the present invention. Each of the second delay circuits  1151 ,  1152  and  1153  delays the communication between each of the USB downstream interface circuits  1131 ,  1132 , and  1133  and the control circuit  13  with a second predetermined time interval T 1 , T 2 , and T 3 , respectively. The second predetermined time intervals T 1 , T 2 , and T 3  are not the same to avoid the interference of the external USB devices while the external USB devices  92 ,  93 , and  94  communicate with the host system  91 , respectively.  
      The wireless communication interface module  12  comprises a digital wireless/USB communication circuit  121  and a first digital delay circuit  122 . The wireless interface communication module  12  can communicate with an external wireless device  95  and/or an external wireless device  96  via a wireless medium. The external wireless devices  95 ,  96  can be the wireless mouse  95 , cellular phone  96 , PDA, or another conventional wireless Dongle.  
      An antenna  14  is connected to the digital wireless/USB communication circuit  121  for receiving and transmitting a wireless signal. The digital wireless/USB communication circuit  121  is for converting the received signal from the antenna  14  into a digital signal with USB format and transferring the digital signal to the control circuit  13 , and converting the digital signal from the control circuit  13  into a wireless signal and transmitting the wireless signal to the external wireless device  95  through the antenna  14 . The LED  15 , which is connected to the digital wireless/USB communication circuit  121 , is for representing the status of the wireless communication. In this embodiment, the protocol of the wireless signal is compliant with one of the specifications of wireless local area network (VVLAN), radio frequency (RF), Bluetooth, and infrared (IR).  
      The first digital delay circuit  122  connects between the digital wireless/USB communication circuit  121  and the control circuit  13 . The first digital delay circuit  121  delays the digital signal communicating between the digital wireless USB communication circuit  121  and the control circuit  13  with a first predetermined time interval T 4 . The predetermined time interval T 1 , T 2 , T 3 , and T 4  are not the same. The host system  91  can communicate with each of the external USB devices  92 ,  93 ,  94  and the external wireless device  95  through the USB Hub  10  of the present invention. Therefore, the control circuit  13  controls the communication between the host system  91  and the external wireless device  95 , and also controls the communication between the host system  91  and each of the external USB devices. The first and second digital delay circuits  122 ,  1151 ,  1152 , and  1153  are for preventing the interference of communication of the devices. The USB hub  10  of the present invention, which combines the conventional USB Hub with the conventional USB Dongle into a single device, is for users&#39; convenience and decreasing the occupying of the USB port  911  of the host system  91 .  
      Please refer to  FIG. 3 ,  FIG. 4 , and  FIG. 5 .  FIG. 3  shows a detailed circuit of the control circuit  13  of the USB hub  10  according to the embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 4  shows a detailed circuit of the digital wireless/USB communication circuit  121  of the USB hub  10  according to the embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 5  shows a detailed circuit of the USB interface module  11  of the USB hub  10  according to the embodiment of the present invention.  
      Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, that above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.