From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1752937Ab1K3XZi (ORCPT ); Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:25:38 -0500 Received: from mail-iy0-f174.google.com ([209.85.210.174]:45981 "EHLO mail-iy0-f174.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1752107Ab1K3XZh (ORCPT ); Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:25:37 -0500 Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:25:29 -0800 From: Dmitry Torokhov To: Mark Brown Cc: NeilBrown , MyungJoo Ham , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Linus Walleij , Arnd Bergmann , Mike Lockwood , Arve =?iso-8859-1?B?SGr4bm5lduVn?= , Kyungmin Park , Donggeun Kim , Greg KH , Grant Likely , Kalle Komierowski , Johan PALSSON , Daniel WILLERUD Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH 0/3] introduce: Multistate Switch Class Message-ID: <20111130232529.GB3220@core.coreip.homeip.net> References: <201111251402.28016.arnd@arndb.de> <201111281753.45287.arnd@arndb.de> <20111130135847.68a6e4c6@notabene.brown> <20111201095633.700e2923@notabene.brown> <20111130231740.GA25340@opensource.wolfsonmicro.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20111130231740.GA25340@opensource.wolfsonmicro.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 11:17:41PM +0000, Mark Brown wrote: > On Thu, Dec 01, 2011 at 09:56:33AM +1100, NeilBrown wrote: > > On Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:40:48 +0900 MyungJoo Ham > > wrote: > > > > I'm focusing on an external connector or port that each physical port > > > may inhabit multiple cables at a time although it should support a > > > port that may inhabit a single cable only at a time. However, the > > > class could be used for other general "multistate mux" that connects > > > different device drivers. > > > maybe I'm just slow, but I'm having a lot of trouble imagining a single port > > that could have multiple cables plugged in at the same time. And this > > blockage is stopping me from reflecting usefully on your other points. > > > Are you able to show me a picture or a diagram or something so I can > > visualise what you are talking about? > > To me: once you plug one cable into a port, it is full and there is no room > > for any more cables. > > One obvious example is the sort of big multi-way docking connector that > many mobile devices have (iPod and friends being one of the most > common). These are essentially the same as docking station connections > on a laptop in terms of what they bring out - a variety of audio, video > and communication connections - which may go to a docking station or > some kind of breakout or adaptor cable and may have sub-ports hanging > off them (eg, it's common for tablets to have docking stations with HDMI > and audio sockets on them). > > There are also lower pin count equivalents like the multiplexed "USB" > sockets on some phones which can also carry other functions with > adaptors, and even something like a headset is really a microphone and > headphones on a single jack. Physical jack does not have to map 1:1 on logical jack. So 1 physical docking connector can be represented by 1 logical video connector, line in, line out, microphone and maybe else. -- Dmitry