USB Hub with individual power switches

[SavannahLion]

The HB_UMLW caught my eye when I was hunting down a part at Frys today. Googled the company and they have several USB Hubs that are constructed like this.

Whats unusual is that Sabrent offers USB hubs where each port can be individually powered off manually. Take a look at this page
http://www.sabrent.com/category/usb-hubs/

Relevant part numbers:
4-PORT USB 2.0 HUB WITH POWER SWITCHES HB-UMLS and HB-UMLW
USB 2.0 4-Port Hub Strip Individual On/Off Power Switch USB-HPSS
7-PORT USB 2.0 HUB AND STAND-ALONE USB CHARGING STATION WITH AC ADAPTOR USB-H7PS

4-PORT USB 3.0 HUB with power adapter HB-USB30
4-PORT USB 3.0 HUB WITH POWER SWITCHES HB-UM43
4-PORT USB 3.0 HUB WITH POWER SWITCH HB-U3P8 (This one has only one switch for all 4 ports)

I would do the HB-USB30 over the USB-H7PS due to the IC configuration (7 ports are actually 2x4 USB ports internally) but these two are the only powered ports. A strange thing since these are all about power management. You would think.....

The reason this is catching my eye is I've always wondered about the idea of having a multiple hubs with power controlled by a separate controller sitting in the USB farther up the chain.

I know that the USB spec does have power control outlined, but it's hard to wrap my head around the spec as it is so it is something I shoved to the back of the mind. Seeing these pushes the idea back to the forefront again.

The idea is something along the lines of dynamically activating/deactivating peripherals . Originally, I had this thought that if one can systematically activate peripherals in sequence during boot, then the hope was that the devices would maintain their original plug in sequence. A way to solve the reshuffling of device orders (such as multiple gamepads) during a reboot.

Another feature would also be to disable specific controllers if they're inappropriate for the game, such as disabling a NES style controller for games that need a SNES style pad.

Of course ControllerRemap really makes this a wash. And of course, if you need more buttons, you just use the appropriate number of buttons. So.... 

Still, I think this is an interesting idea and I offer it here to see what anyone else can come up with.