Transition Existing

Products from USB 2.0 OTG

to USB Type-C TM

Michael Campbell
Systems Engineer
High Speed Interface
Texas Instruments
Transition your existing USB 2.0 On-The-Go (OTG)
products with a micro-A/B receptacle to a Type-C
receptacle using the USB Type-C™ specification.
The daunting task of analyzing the USB Type-C™ one hundred-plus page specification
with references to other specifications like USB Power Delivery (PD), which is over 500
pages, in order to determine what changes are needed can be overwhelming. This paper
details the minimum requirements of progressing from a USB 2.0 OTG product to a USB
Type-C-compliant product.

Introduction USB 2.0 OTG

The USB Type-CTM cable, receptacle, and plug are A USB 2.0 On-The-Go (OTG) product is a portable
designed to be more robust and user-friendly than device, such as a cell phone or tablet, that can
existing USB cables (micro-A, Type-A and Type-B). function either as a USB host or a USB peripheral.
Currently, for example, Type-A plugs only connect All USB 2.0 OTG products are required to use
in one position to a Type-A receptacle. Type-C, a micro-A/B receptacle. A portable product
however, allows you to plug in devices either implementing USB 2.0 OTG determines its role
upside down or downside up. This simple change as either a host or a peripheral by the state of the
eliminates the frustration of incorrectly inserting USB ID pin. With the ID pin at ground (GND), the OTG
devices into a USB port. product functions as a USB host and provides VBUS
to the attached USB peripheral. Otherwise, the OTG
With USB products consuming more power from device functions as a USB peripheral.
VBUS and the desire for faster charging, the USB
Type-C standard enables power delivery to support Table 1 shows the pin-out for both receptacle
products of today and well into the future. To take and plug. The plug’s ID pin is either grounded or
advantage of Type-C benefits, companies need to left unconnected to select either host or peripheral
change their existing products to meet the Type-C functionality.
standard. How to go about this process can be a
Micro-A/B
Pin Micro-A plug Micro-B plug
formidable task, but it doesn’t have to be that way. receptacle
No. signal name signal name
signal name
By following information detailed in this paper, you
1 VBUS VBUS VBUS
can easily transition your products.
2 D– D– D–
3 D+ D+ D+
ID unconnected or connected
4 ID ID tied to GND to GND through greater than
100K resistor.
5 GND GND GND

Table 1. Micro-A/B receptacle and plug pin assignment

Transitioning Existing Products from USB 2.0 OTG to USB Type-CITM 2 July 2015
When acting as a USB peripheral, the portable USB plug (micro-A, Type-A or Type-B, to mention a few)
2.0 OTG product monitors VBUS to determine when it on one end of the cable. In order to accommodate
is connected to a USB host or external charger (for higher bandwidth applications, the USB Type-C
example, a cell phone plugged into a wall charger). specification adds multiple USB 3.1 pairs to the
By using USB battery charging 1.2 (BC1.2) or a connector.
proprietary method, a portable product can request Figure 2 shows the receptacle pin assignment for
higher than the USB 2.0 default of 2.5 Watts to supporting a full-featured Type-C cable. A full-
enable faster charging times. featured cable supports both USB 2.0 and USB 3.1.

USB Type-C When migrating from a USB 2.0 OTG product

to a Type-C product, USB 3.1 signals are not
The USB Type-C specification defines a receptacle
needed. These signals should be left unconnected
along with a cable that allows users to plug in their
(electrically isolated) on the PCB. Figure 3 shows
products and cables without caring about the
the USB 3.1 contacts as no-connects in a Type-C
connector’s position (upside down or downside up).
receptacle.
The cable can have the same Type-C plug on each
end of the cable or, if desired, have a legacy USB

Figure 1. USB Type-C receptacle and plug

Source: Courtesy of USB Type-C specifications

A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12

GND TX 1+ TX 1- V BUS CC1 D+ D- SBU1 V BUS RX 2- RX 2+ GND

GND RX 1+ RX 1- V BUS SBU2 D- D+ CC2 V BUS TX 2- TX 2+ GND

B12 B11 B10 B9 B8 B7 B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1

Figure 2. USB Type-C full-featured receptacle pin map (front view)

Source: Courtesy of USB Type-C specifications

A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12

GND NC NC V BUS CC1 D+ D- SBU1 V BUS NC NC GND

GND NC NC V BUS SBU2 D- D+ CC2 V BUS NC NC GND

B12 B11 B10 B9 B8 B7 B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1

Figure 3. Receptacle pin map with only USB Type-C USB 2.0 (front view)
Source: Courtesy of USB Type-C specifications

Transitioning Existing Products from USB 2.0 OTG to USB Type-CITM 3 July 2015
The pin map in Figure 3 has two sets of D+ and In determining whether a DFP or UFP role, a DRP
D– contacts. These two sets of pins do not imply device must alternate between being a UFP and
that there are two independent USB 2.0 paths. In a DFP until a connection can be established.
fact, a Type-C cable has only one wire for D+ and For easy reference, Figure 4 depicts the same
one wire for D–. The purpose of these two sets of functional DRP model provided in the USB Type-C
D+/D– contacts is to support the flippable feature. specification.
Products should connect the two D+ contacts on VBUS Source

their PCB, and also connect the two D– contacts VBUS

Connection VBUS Sink
on their PCB. When tying these contacts together and Marked
Cable
Mux Detection
on a PCB, creating a stub is unavoidable. As such, CNTL Cold-Socket,
5V VCONN
& VCONN
be careful that the stub length does not exceed Control Rp CC1
PD Present as
2.5 mm. Otherwise, signal integrity issues may be Device or Host
Rd
observed on the USB 2.0 interface. (CC1)
(CC2) VCONN
Noticeably absent from the USB Type-C receptacle
USB Type-C Rp
is the ID pin. The determination of host or peripheral Current CC2
Detection
functionality is handled differently in Type-C. Here,
Rd
the host or peripheral detection is done through
monitoring channel configuration (CC) pins (CC1/ GND

CC2) while toggling at a specific interval between a

pull-up resistor and pull-down resistor. Depending Figure 4. A functional mode of a dual-role port for CC1 and CC2
on the voltage level detected on the CC pins after a Source: Courtesy of USB Type-C specifications
defined de-bounce time, the device becomes either
a host or a peripheral. A DFP has a pull-up resistor (Rp), and a UFP has
a a pull-down resistor (Rd). Figure 4 shows that
Type-C dual-role port the Rp and Rd on CC1/CC2 are controlled through
In the Type-C ecosystem, the USB 2.0 OTG device a switch. When a connection occurs because an
is referred as a dual-role port (DRP). A DRP is a Rp is selected, the DRP device behaves as a DFP
device that can function either as a USB host or (host) and provides VBUS to the attached peripheral.
as a USB peripheral. In Type-C terminology, a USB When a connection occurs with the Rd selected,
host is called a downstream-facing port (DFP), and the DRP device behaves as a UFP (peripheral) and
a USB peripheral is called an upstream-facing port monitors VBUS to establish a data connection and/or
(UFP). power onboard circuits.

Transitioning Existing Products from USB 2.0 OTG to USB Type-CITM 4 July 2015
In cases where two DRP-capable products are One chip solution
connected, it is possible that one or both products
One possible solution for transitioning a USB 2.0
have the capability to become a host or peripheral.
OTG product that uses a micro-A/B receptacle
For example, a cell phone and a tablet could both
to a Type-C receptacle is the Texas Instruments
be DRP-capable. However, when connected, the
TUSB32x product line. This family of products can
cell phone becomes a peripheral while the tablet
function as a UFP, DFP, or a DRP-based on a pin
becomes a host. What should not happen is for a
or value of an I2C register. These devices handle all
cell phone to host a tablet and provide VBUS to it. In
aspects of the Type-C connection process. These
other words, your cell phone should not be charging
devices provide an ID pin that mirrors the micro-
your tablet.
A/B ID pin behavior so that a host or peripheral role
The Type-C specification has optional paths in the can be easily determined. When connected as a
DRP’s connection and role-detection method that peripheral the TUSB32x family indicates the VBUS
allows a device to select a preference for a specific current provided by the attached host through either
role. These option paths are called Try.SRC and I2C registers or GPIO pins. When connected as a
Try.SNK. Implementing these two optional features host, these devices advertise VBUS current to the
is critical for portable devices. A tablet may want attached peripheral.
to implement Try.SRC so that it can become a
Note: At the time of this writing, Try.SNK has not
host when attached to another DRP. A cell phone
been approved as a engineering change notice
may want to implement Try.SNK so that it can be a
(ECN) to the USB Type-C 1.1 specification.
peripheral when attached to another DRP.
References
Figure 4 also shows a VCONN switch. VCONN (5 V at
• For more information, please visit: ti.com/usb-c
min of 1 Watt) is intended to power cables with
active circuitry. In Type-C these cables are known as • Download datasheets from these product folders:
active cables. VCONN is typically used for powering a TUSB320
USB 3.1 signal conditioning device within the cable.
TUSB321
For a product that only supports USB 2.0, support
for VCONN is not required. TPS65982

HD3SS3212

HD3SS460

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