Patent ID: 7865629

Claim:
A method of configuring a connector of a mobile host device for connecting to a connector of an accessory device, comprising: receiving an indication of one or more functions supported by the accessory device connector from the accessory device; at the mobile host device, selecting one or more functions to be enabled for connecting to the accessory device, wherein the accessory device is releasably attached to the mobile host device; configuring one or more pins of the mobile host device connector, the configuring comprising enabling the one or more selected functions at the mobile host device connector; and instructing the accessory device to configure one or more pins of the accessory device connector to support the one or more selected functions; determining that data currently being transferred or scheduled to be transferred between the mobile host device and the accessory device can be transferred by using one or more additional functions of the mobile host device connector; and in response to the determining: reconfiguring the one or more pins of the mobile host device connector, the reconfiguring comprising enabling the one or more additional functions at the mobile host device connector; instructing the accessory device to reconfigure the one or more pins of the accessory device connector to support the one or more additional functions; and using the one or more additional functions to transfer the data between the mobile host device and the accessory device; and wherein the one or more pins of the mobile host device connector comprises one or more fixed-function pins and one or more multi-function pins.