NVIDIA Corporation
Method to increase the bandwidth of a USB-C connector

Abstract:

This disclosure provides a method that allows connector pins of a USB-C connector to be dynamically repurposed between low bandwidth USB2 traffic and high bandwidth USB3 traffic. USB-C devices can negotiate the use of these pins for a dynamic transition to another function or functions. The pins can be the four center connector pins of a USB-C connection, pins A6, A7, B6, B7, that are originally designated as USB 2.0 differential pairs Changing the function of the pins provides flexibility for communicating using USB-C connectors. For example, the disclosed method/device/system can be used to support high-resolution cameras and sensors in high-resolution virtual reality headsets via a single USB-C connection instead of a user having to connect multiple cables.