Scalable method and apparatus to configure a link

Abstract

Disclosed herein are reconfigurable ports and methods for doing the same.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 initializing a port to a default configuration;   identifying a range of device capabilities;   transferring said capabilities to a link partner;   identifying common capabilities between two partners to be linked; and   configuring at least one of the partners so that both partners will be at the common configuration.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , in which identifying is done in software. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , in which the identified capabilities comprises operable bus protocols. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , in which operable protocols include USB 3.0 and PCI Express. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising deciding which partner is to be an upstream port and which is to be a downstream port. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising deciding which partner is to be a host port and which partner is to be a debug port. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising deciding which partner is to be a power providing port. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising deciding operating frequency. 
     
     
         9 . A device, comprising:
 a reconfigurable port with a controller to:
 initialize a port to a default configuration; 
 transmit capabilities to a partner port to be linked; 
 receive capabilities from the partner port; and 
 reconfigure the port in accordance with capabilities of both ports. 
   
     
     
         10 . The device of  claim 9 , in which the port is to determine if it is to be an upstream or downstream port. 
     
     
         11 . The device of  claim 10 , in which the port decides to be a downstream or upstream port based on whether a partner port can be an upstream or downstream port. 
     
     
         12 . The device of  claim 11 , in which the use a tiebreaker to determine who is to be the downstream port if both ports can either be downstream or upstream ports. 
     
     
         13 . The device of  claim 9 , in which the port selects a bus protocol based on bus protocol capabilities of a partner port. 
     
     
         14 . The device of  claim 9 , in which the port is a USB port. 
     
     
         15 . A computer system, comprising:
 a host; and   a reconfigurable port with a host interface to couple the host to a device, and (ii) a debug device interface to enable the host to be debugged.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , in which the reconfigurable port is to be an upstream port when the debug interface is enabled. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the reconfigurable port comprises a device interface to enable the host as a device to be linked with a second host.