The Microchip USB7206 SmartHub™ IC is a low-power, OEM configurable, USB 3.2 Gen 2 hub controller with 6 downstream ports and advanced features for embedded USB applications. The USB7206 is fully compliant with the Universal Serial Bus Revision 3.1 Specification and USB 2.0 Link Power Management Addendum. The USB7206 supports 10 Gbps Super-Speed Plus (SS+), 5 Gbps Super-Speed (SS), 480 Mbps Hi-Speed (HS), 12 Mbps Full-Speed (FS), and 1.5 Mbps Low-Speed (LS) USB downstream devices on all enabled downstream ports.

A SmartHub IC is defined as a USB hub that integrates system levels functions typically associated with a separate MCU or processor. The USB7206 SmartHub IC enables communication to other peripherals in addition to USB. This I/O Bridging capability allows the host to seamlessly interface to peripherals via I2C, SPI or GPIOs over USB. The USB7206 also enable a downstream device to take control of the host system by swapping roles and becoming the host port. The USB7206 can also switch between two different hosts if required. This role changing technology is called FlexConnect and can be initiated through hardware or software commands.

The USB7206 supports legacy Type-B connectivity on the upstream port and Type-A connectivity on the downstream ports. The hub downstream configuration includes 5 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports and an additional USB2.0 port. The USB7206 also supports the legacy USB speeds (HS/FS/LS) through a dedicated USB 2.0 hub controller that is the culmination of six generations of Microchip hub feature controller design and experience with proven reliability, interoperability, and device compatibility. The SuperSpeed Plus hub controller operates in parallel with the USB 2.0 controller, decoupling the 10 Gbps SS data transfers from bottlenecks due to the slower USB 2.0 traffic.

The USB7206 supports downstream battery charging. The USB7206C integrated battery charger detection circuitry supports the USB-IF Battery Charging (BC1.2) detection method and most Apple^® devices. The USB7206 provides the battery charging handshake and supports the following USB-IF BC1.2 charging profiles: 

• DCP: Dedicated Charging Port (Power brick with no data) 

• CDP: Charging Downstream Port (1.5A with data)

• SDP: Standard Downstream Port (0.5A with data)

• Custom profiles loaded via SPI EEPROM or OTP

MPLAB^® Connect Configurator, Microchip’s proprietary software utility, can be used to program On-chip One Time Programmable (OTP) ROM for the USB7206 which stores required register settings to ensure the desired start up configuration at power on. All LED, GPIOs and port control signal pins are under firmware control, allowing for maximum operational flexibility. However, for even more simplicity, the USB7206 can be configured through a series of external low-cost resistor bootstraps. A handful of bootstrap pins are available on the USB7206C to enable standard configurations for GPIOs and downstream ports. No OTP programming required.

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