How to design a docking station that supports the Nintendo SWITCH game console?

Legendary008

How to design a docking station that supports the Nintendo SWITCH game console? [Copy link]

 

Since its release in 2017, Nintendo's Switch game console has sold nearly 100 million units, and if nothing unexpected happens, it will surpass the sales record of the PS4. This surprised some index parties who were not optimistic about the prospects of the Switch when it was first released.

Indeed, in the era of 4K games, Nintendo's return to the top with a 720p game console surprised many people. In addition to Nintendo's correct strategy of focusing on the game itself rather than the hardware, the USB Type-C interface also contributed greatly. With this small and powerful interface, SWITCH can switch between handheld and host forms at will.

In an era when the younger generation is already accustomed to mobile Internet, this feature is indeed too attractive. In order to realize the conversion from handheld to mainframe, SWITCH also needs a transfer base. The original SWITCH transfer base is too large, which limits the portability. So how to design a transfer base that supports the Nintendo Switch game console solution?

Therefore, many third-party accessory manufacturers tried to design a more convenient and easy-to-use Nintendo Switch adapter. However, everyone soon discovered that the Nintendo Switch adapter used a private protocol, and universal adapters, such as the Mac Book adapter, could not make the Nintendo Switch play videos at all, but only charge.

The world's first third-party Nintendo Switch dock was actually released four months after the console was officially released, and was first launched on Kickstarter in the United States. This is a portable USB Type-C adapter called CFORCE, which is only the size of a credit card. Compared with Nintendo's official "big brick" adapter, it is much more portable.

After buying several adapters that support Nintendo SWITCH game consoles and disassembling them, we found that they all have a common feature, a built-in USB PD control chip called LDR6023. It seems that this chip plays a key role in allowing the Nintendo SWITCH game console to enter the video output mode. For this reason, we found the design information of this chip and published the solution of the Nintendo SWITCH game console adapter.

This chip not only enables Nintendo SWITCH to output video, but also has the same DP Alt mode indicator as the original dock. That is, once the SWITCH game console enters the video output mode through the USB PD communication protocol, the ALT_LED signal of pin10 of LDR6023B will output a high level and light up the LED indicator.

In order to facilitate some bases to control SWITCH to not enter Alt mode through buttons, the chip also has a magical VS pin, which can be connected to a button to the ground. Each time it is pressed, it will switch between entering Alt mode and not entering Alt mode. It is convenient for users to freely control whether to output the video to the TV or keep the picture on the SWITCH screen. The base only provides charging function. It is so considerate. This chip also has a very simple application circuit.

From the application circuit in the figure, we can see that by simply connecting the CC of LDR6023B to the Nintendo game console, the SWITCH can output 1080P images while being charged at 15V through the USB PD protocol. The video signal output from the game console is in DisplayPort format. If the adapter needs to have an HDMI interface, a DP to HDMI chip needs to be added.

Jacktang

The circuit is very simple, but a DP to HDMI chip needs to be added

氮化镓扩展坞

Can't you just use a C to HDMI, or make the HUB into a base shape, or use the following products,