Chapter 6. USB On-The-GO (OTG)

USB OTG support on Linux 2.6 was initially developed by Texas Instruments for OMAP 16xx and 17xx series processors. Other OTG systems should work in similar ways, but the hardware level details could be very different.

Systems need specialized hardware support to implement OTG, notably including a special Mini-AB jack and associated transciever to support Dual-Role operation: they can act either as a host, using the standard Linux-USB host side driver stack, or as a peripheral, using this "gadget" framework. To do that, the system software relies on small additions to those programming interfaces, and on a new internal component (here called an "OTG Controller") affecting which driver stack connects to the OTG port. In each role, the system can re-use the existing pool of hardware-neutral drivers, layered on top of the controller driver interfaces (usb_bus or usb_gadget). Such drivers need at most minor changes, and most of the calls added to support OTG can also benefit non-OTG products.

Additional changes are needed below those hardware-neutral usb_bus and usb_gadget driver interfaces; those aren't discussed here in any detail. Those affect the hardware-specific code for each USB Host or Peripheral controller, and how the HCD initializes (since OTG can be active only on a single port). They also involve what may be called an OTG Controller Driver, managing the OTG transceiver and the OTG state machine logic as well as much of the root hub behavior for the OTG port. The OTG controller driver needs to activate and deactivate USB controllers depending on the relevant device role. Some related changes were needed inside usbcore, so that it can identify OTG-capable devices and respond appropriately to HNP or SRP protocols.