Adaptive cable interface

A computer program product for negotiating pin assignment for a cabling interface, comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium;
• program instructions, stored on the computer readable storage medium, to discover an attached device through an interrogation from a connected port by detecting a low voltage presence pulse transmitted through a designated pin of the cabling interface;
• program instructions, stored on the computer readable storage medium, responsive to discovering the attached device, to set the designated pin to a unassigned state for reuse in a subsequent communication between the cabling interface and the attached device;
• program instructions, stored on the computer readable storage medium, to perform a handshake with the attached device, wherein the handshake shares information on the protocols, bandwidth needs, streams and pins supported by the attached device;
• program instructions, stored on the computer readable storage medium, to declare a set of supported streams needed for communication by the cabling interface;
• program instructions, stored on the computer readable storage medium to negotiate a pin layout for each streams that will be used for communication between the cabling interface and the attached device;
• and
• program instructions, stored on the computer readable storage medium, to assign pins based on needs of the attached device and needs of the cabling interface.

A computer comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium having computer readable instructions encoded thereon for negotiating pin assignment for a cabling interface;
• a bus connecting the computer readable storage medium to a processor;
• and
• a processor, wherein the processor executes the computer readable instructions:
• to discover an attached device through an interrogation from a connected port by detecting a low voltage presence pulse transmitted through a designated pin of the cabling interface;
• responsive to discovering the attached device, to set the designated pin to a unassigned state for reuse in a subsequent communication between the cabling interface and the attached device;
• to perform a handshake with the attached device, wherein the handshake shares information on the protocols, bandwidth needs, streams and pins supported by the attached device;
• to declare a set of supported streams needed for communication by the cabling interface;
• to negotiate for each streams that will be used for communication between the cabling interface and the attached device;
• and
• to assign pins based on needs of the attached device and needs of the cabling interface.