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Universal Serial Bus
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Comprehensive Family of Universal Serial Bus (USB) Interface Chips Simplifies Input-Output (I/O) Connectivity for PCsIndustry's First Seven-Port USB Hub Offers Most Connectivity Per ChipDALLAS (Nov. 4, 1996) -- Texas Instruments disclosed today the development of the industry's most comprehensive family of Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface chips. Samples are available now for the first two members of the family, the industry's first seven-port USB hub and a four-port hub. A hub device provides personal computer (PC) system designers with USB connection ports that can be used to link the PC to peripheral devices such as modems, printers, keyboards and mice, or to another USB hub if additional peripherals are needed. Other initial devices in the product family include another USB hub, one peripheral interface device and a peripheral interface macrocell so that USB functionality can be easily and rapidly included in Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) and customizable Digital Signal Processor (cDSP) designs. USB is a specification that defines plug-and-play connectivity between PCs and low-to-medium speed peripheral equipment such as modems, printers, keyboards and mice. Although USB's data rate of 12 megabits-per-second (Mbps) is a moderate transfer speed, it can accommodate most of today's popular PC peripheral devices. USB benefits consumers by eliminating the confusion caused by having several different types of connectors on a PC, each of which is restricted to a certain type of peripheral device. A USB-equipped PC would allow peripheral equipment to be plugged into any of several USB connectors on the PC. Samples of the seven-port USB hub device, the TUSB2070, and a four-port hub chip, the TUSB2040, are available now. Initially, these hub devices likely will be embedded in a PC's monitor to provide USB connectivity to peripheral devices used on the desktop, such as keyboards, modems and telephones. Later in the fourth quarter of 1996, samples are scheduled to be released for two more USB devices: first, a four-port hub that includes Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) bus circuitry that can be used to control the PC monitor's brightness, contrast, vertical/horizontal hold as well as other operating characteristics; and second, a peripheral interface device with 64K bytes of FIFO (first in, first out) memory. USB peripheral interface devices are embedded in peripheral equipment to interface them to the PC's USB input/output (I/O) subsystem. Samples of the USB peripheral interface macrocell are also scheduled for release during the fourth quarter."Being the first in the industry establishes our seven-port hub as a premier product in this important PC arena. USB is a critical enabling technology for home and small office computing," said Paul Thomas, TI's manager of strategic marketing for USB. "USB allows non-technical users to simply plug in new peripherals without having to insert controller boards inside the PC, install software drivers, reconfigure the operating system or shut down and restart their systems. Additionally, we expect that over the next year, most new PCs will be equipped with USB. TI's family of hub and peripheral interface devices will provide much of the connectivity needed to implement USB. "Our first two USB devices, the seven and four-port hubs, serve the needs of entry level systems as well as PCs that might require greater connectivity. Basic business systems probably won't need any more than four USB ports, but a home PC, for example, might have two, three or four joysticks connected to it. That kind of system could use our seven-port hub," Thomas said. "With our portfolio of products, we will be able to satisfy a wide range of USB connectivity needs. Our four-port hub with I2C monitor control circuitry demonstrates TI's strategy of developing USB devices that feature extra value for the PC vendor." Future devices in TI's USB product family will include discrete peripheral interface devices with varying memory capacities, power management devices and transient power suppressers to protect against circuitry damage when a new peripheral device is plugged into a fully powered PC. Long-term USB strategies call for integrating USB capabilities with other key TI technologies, such as wireless and infrared communications, microcontrollers and digital signal processors (DSPs) to provide a complete range of application solutions.
The USB specification has been developed by a group of computer
and telecommunications companies, including Compaq, Digital Equipment,
IBM, Microsoft, NEC and Northern Telecom. Pricing and Availability
Production quantities of the TUSB2070 and the TUSB2040 are expected
to be available from Texas Instruments and its authorized distributors
in the fourth quarter of 1996. Suggested resale pricing of the
TUSB2070 in quantities of 1,000 is anticipated to be in the range
of $5. Suggested resale pricing of the TUSB2040 in quantities
of 1,000 is anticipated to be in the range of $4.10.
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