Patent Publication Number: US-2023155334-A1

Title: Active cable avoiding influence of rx power consumption

Description:
PRIORITY INFORMATION 
     The Application Claims were submitted to Patent Office of the People&#39;s Republic of China on Nov. 12, 2021 and named as an Active Cable Avoiding Influence of RX Power Consumption, with an application No. 202111338440.4. And the priority of the Chinese patent application mentioned above is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     FIELD 
     The present invention relates to the field of the active cable, specifically, to the active cable that avoids influence of RX power consumption on IR-drop and thickness of the active cable. 
     BACKGROUND 
     With development of high-speed wireless network, high-speed USB and HD video, such cables as the USB, the HDMI, the DP and the Type C are more and more popular. 
     Taking the USB as an example, the USB cable is used for connection and communication between a computer and an external device, and for charging of the device and connecting with outside. Generally speaking, it is used for data transmission and charging. 
     The U promotion group composed of such industry giants as Intel, Microsoft, HP, Texas Instruments, NEC and ST-NXP announced on Nov. 18, 2008 that the USB3.0 Specification was officially completed and publicly released. A transmission speed that 10 times USB2.0 and a higher energy-saving efficiency are provided in the standard, which can be widely used in peripherals of PC and consumer electronics products. 
     As shown in  FIG.  1   , the USB3.0 Cable consists of three pairs of twisted-pair for data transmission, and one pair of copper wire for power transmission, wherein, a high-speed signal cable is compatible with USB2.0, the copper wire has a power supply capacity of 5V 900 mA, namely, 4.5 W, and the USB cable is shown as  FIG.  1   . 
     The USB3.0 spec stipulates that any length of the cables can be used only if two requirements are satisfied, namely attenuation requirement of high-speed cable and IR-drop requirement, wherein, loss requirements of the high-speed signal cable are shown as  FIG.  2   . 
     Voltage between the VBUS and the GND is within 450 mV at 5V, 900 mA as required by IR-drop. In order to make the cable longer, two requirements mentioned above should be met. An active optical cable (AOC) is currently commercially available, that is, the active component is used to reduce or compensate the attenuation produced during transmission. 
     Specifically, as shown in  FIG.  3   , the cable  100  comprising the host connection end  3  to connect the host  1 , the device connection end  4  to connect the device  2 , and the data wire and the auxiliary wire between the host connection end  3  and the device connection end  4 , the auxiliary wire comprising the main power wire  5  and the ground wire  6 , wherein, the power cable  5  is used for current transmission between the VBUS. When the cable  100  transmits current (supplying power to the device),the active component  7  located at the host connection end  3  and the device connection end  4  use electricity from the VBUS via the power cable  5 , and thus, the current actually transmitted through the VBUS will rise and the IR-drop of the VBUS exceeds the USB3.0 specification. In order to keep the IR-drop of the VBUS of the active cable within USB3.0 specification, the copper wire of the VBUS is generally very thick, so that the cable is not soft. 
     Therefore, how to ensure the active cable cannot only satisfy with the attenuation requirement of the high-speed signal cable and IR-drop requirement of the cable, but also improve the softness of the cable and experience of end-users when the cable extends has become an urgent problem to be solved in the prior art. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present invention is intended to provide an active cable avoiding influence of RX power consumption for satisfaction with the attenuation of wire size and the IR-drop of the cables and reduction of the cable thickness to improve user experience. 
     To achieve the object, the present invention employs the following technical solution: 
     An active line avoiding influence of RX power consumption, comprising: 
     A host connection end to connect the host, a device connection end to connect the device, and a data wire and an auxiliary wire between the host connection end and the device connection end. 
     The auxiliary power wire consists of the main power wire and the auxiliary power wire, 
     Wherein, the main power wire is used for current transmission between the VBUS of the host and the device, 
     One end of the auxiliary power wire is located at the host connection end and connected with the main power wire, and another end is located at the device connection end to supply power to the active component of the device connection end. 
     Optionally, one end of the auxiliary power wire is located at the host connection end and connected with the main power wire. Specifically, one end of the auxiliary power wire is directly connected with the main power wire at the host connection end, or one end of the auxiliary power wire is used for direct connection with the electrode pins of the VBUS of the host connection end, thereby connecting with the main power wire indirectly. 
     Optionally, the active component in the host connection end are directly connected with the main power wire and takes electricity from the main power wire. 
     Optionally, the active component in the host connection end are connected with the auxiliary power wire and takes electricity from the auxiliary power wire. 
     Optionally, the power module is arranged between the active component of the host connection end and/or the device connection end to satisfy with different voltage requirements. 
     Optionally, the host connection end and the device connection end can be plugged into the host and the device. 
     Optionally, the main power wire and the auxiliary power wire are copper cables. 
     Optionally, the active cable comprises an USB, an HDMI, an DP, or a Type C cable. 
     Optionally, the auxiliary wire also consists of ground wire. 
     In conclusion, the present invention has following advantages:
         1. Disconnect the active module of the device connection end from the VBUS, connect the additional auxiliary power wire from the host connection end to supply power to the active module at the device connection end, and the active component at the device connection end at this moment does not take electricity from the VBUS at this terminal, and thus, the current transmitted by the VBUS cable is equal to the current absorbed by the device, so that such problems are solved as risk of excessive IR-drop of VBUS, unattractive appearance and insufficient softness due to rough VBUS cable.   2. The power module is arranged between the active component and the auxiliary power wire to satisfy with different voltage requirements.       

    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a schematic diagram of the USB3.0 cable in exisiting technology; 
         FIG.  2    is a schematic diagram of signal attenuation of the USB3.0 cable in existing technology; 
         FIG.  3    is a module drawing of the USB3.0 cable in existing technology; 
         FIG.  4    is a schematic diagram of the active cable avoiding influence of RX power consumption according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  5    is a schematic diagram of the active cable avoiding the influence of RX power consumption according to another embodiment of the present invention 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Now, the invention will be explained further in combination with the figures and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described here are only used for explanation of the present invention instead of limitation. In addition, for easy description, it should be noted that that only the parts related to the invention are shown in the figures rather than the whole structure. 
     For the active cable, power from outside is required because the active component is used to enhance signals. In general, power is supplied by the VBUS directly. When the VBUS in the cable is transmitting current (supplying power to the device), the current actually transmitted by the VBUS cable will rise due to the current consumed by the active component with addition of power current, thus leading to a risk that IR-drop of VBUS exceeds the specification in the protocol. In the present invention, the VBUS refers to a connector, a plug of various AOC cables or a pin for power supply in the connection terminal. 
     The invention is mainly intended to satisfy with cable extension and reduction of thickness of the copper wire, the present invention is mainly intended to disconnect the active component located in the device connection end (RX) from the VBUS at the device connection end and connect one additional auxiliary power wire from the host connection end to supply power to the active component in the device connection end 
     Specifically,  FIG.  4    illustrated a schematic diagram of the active cable  200  avoiding influence of RX power consumption according to an embodiment of the present invention, comprising: 
     The host connection end  13  to connect the host  11 , the device connection end  14  to connect device  12 , and the data wire and the auxiliary wire between the host connection end  13  and the device connection end  14 . 
     The auxiliary power wire consists of the main power wire  15 , the ground wire  16  and the auxiliary power wire  18 . 
     Wherein, the main power wire  15  is used to transmit current between the VBUS of the host  11  and the device  12 , 
     The auxiliary power wire  18 , one end of it is located at the host connection end  13  and connected with the main power wire  15 , and another end is located at the device connection end  14  to supply power to the active component  17  of the device connection end  14 . 
     Therefore, in the present invention, the active component  17  at the device connection end  14  does not directly take electricity from the VBUS of the device connection end  14 , and thus the current transmitted by the VBUS cable is equal to the current absorbed by the device, thereby the problems, such as unattractive appearance of the device caused by too thick cable, are resolved. 
     One end of the auxiliary power wire  18  in the present invention is connected with the main power wire  15  at the host connection end  13 , or one end of the auxiliary power wire  18  is used for direct connection with the electrode pins of the VBUS of the host connection end  13  so as to connect with the main power wire  15  indirectly. 
     Furthermore, as shown in  FIG.  4   , the active component  17  at the host connection end  13  is directly connected with the main power wire  15  and takes electricity from the main power wire  15 . The transmission current of the main power wire  15  cannot rise because the host connection end  13  is close to the host side and the active component  17  is connected with the main power wire  15  directly. 
     Furthermore, as shown in  FIG.  5   , the active component  17  in the host connection end  13  is connected with the auxiliary power wire  18 , that is, after the auxiliary power wire  18  is connected with main power wire  15 , it is connected with the active component  17  of the host connection end  13  and the device connection end  14 , respectively. 
     Furthermore, for adaption to different active components requiring different power voltages, the power module is arranged between the auxiliary power wire  18  and the active component  17  of the host connection end  13  and/or the device connection end  14 , thereby satisfying with different voltage requirements. 
     In the present invention, the host connection end  13  and the device connection end  14  can be the electric socket or other types, as long as they can be plugged into the host  11  and the device  12 . 
     The copper cable can be used as the main power wire and the auxiliary power wire in the present invention. 
     The active cable can be the USB, the HDMI, the DR, or the Type C cables. 
     Consequently, the present invention has following advantages:
         1. Disconnect the active module of the device connection end from the VBUS, connect the additional auxiliary power wire from the host connection end to supply power to the active module at the device connection end, and the active component at device connection end at this moment does not take electricity from the VBUS at this terminal, and thus, the current transmitted by the VBUS cable is equal to the current absorbed by the device, so that such problems as the risk of excessive IR-drop of VBUS, unattractive appearance and insufficient softness caused by too tick VBUS cable, are resolved.   2. The power module is arranged between the active component and the auxiliary power wire to satisfy with different voltage requirements.       

     The information mentioned above is intended to make further detailed description and illustration for the present invention in combination with recommended embodiments, and it cannot be asserted that the specific embodiments of the present invention are limited to here. For the ordinary persons skilled in the art of the present invention, they can perform a number of simple derivations or replacements without departing from the concept of the present invention, which should be regarded to be in the protection scope as defined by the Claims applied by the present invention.