Patent ID: 8234416

Claim:
An apparatus configured to couple to a universal serial bus (USB) 3.0 connector, comprising: a management controller, configured to couple to a D+ and D− pins of the USB 3.0 connector, and configured to detect from behavior on the D+ and D− pins thereof whether a device plugged into the USB 3.0 connector is a conventional USB 3.0 device or an optical USB device, wherein the optical USB device employs one of the D+ and D− pins of the USB 3.0 connector to transmit a data signal and the other to transmit a clock signal, and wherein the D+ and D− pins collectively function as a serial bus when the optical USB device is plugged into the USB 3.0 connector, and the serial bus is configured in accordance with a specified serial bus protocol to indicate control signals or status signals of the optical USB device, and wherein the management controller is configured to generate a predetermined value to indicate to a transceiver to transceive signals on the SSRX+, SSRX−, SSTX+, and SSTX− pins above the USB 3.0 SuperSpeed rate to the optical USB device, and wherein the transceiver is configured to switch back to run at the USB 3.0 SuperSpeed rate if operations of the optical USB device are not stable.