Combining USB Type-C and DisplayPort support in portable implementations

Morten Christiansen, Synopsys
Tech Design Forum (September 26, 2017)

Our expectations of portable electronic devices are rapidly converging. We want mobile phones that can make videos, tablets that can play games, and laptops that can make calls.

This functional blurring creates both an opportunity and a challenge for SoC designers. The opportunity is to architect single SoCs that can be used in many of these product categories. One challenge in devising such SoCs is to implement the high-performance I/O necessary to support, for example, 4K video output, in an efficient, low pin-count way.

One approach is to use USB Type-C connectors to carry data, audio, video and power on a single port. This is a complex undertaking, best achieved by using validated IP blocks, verification suites and test cases to enable rapid integration of these functions into an SoC.

Synopsys has integrated a set of IP blocks into a solution that combines both USB-C 3.1 and DisplayPort support (see Figure 1). It includes USB 3.1, DisplayPort 1.4 TX, DisplayPort AUX, HDCP 1.4 controllers, HDCP 2.2 Embedded Security Modules, and USB 2.0, USB 3.1, DisplayPort TX and DisplayPort AUX PHYs. The solution comes with verification IP and test cases.

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