Cypress Semiconductor has introduced a new family of embedded dual-mode USB controllers which implement both USB “host” and “peripheral” functions. The devices feature built-in RISC CPUs, memory, and control firmware, thereby making it possible for devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, printers, cameras, and music players to communicate with each other without the need for a host computer.

Two USB controllers being introduced at this time include the EZ-Host (CY7C67300), a multi-port embedded host/peripheral controller targeted at the non-handheld market, and the EZ-OTG (CY7C67200), which contains most of the functionality of EZ-Host but is customized for mobile devices and supports the USB On-the-Go (OTG) protocol.

Cypress is also offering a Linux-based development kit for its new USB controllers which includes programming tools, Linux drivers, “framework firmware,” and functional examples. The Linux support includes a Linux USB stack along with drivers for Host support, Peripheral support, and USB OTG support.

“We chose to use the Linux OS running on a StrongARM [processor as the basis for our] development platform,” said Brian Booker, product manager for the new Cypress USB controller family. “Our chips can run as coprocessors to this or other embedded systems. Using Linux helps to keep the development kit affordable and accessible to a large customer base.”

“Alternately our chips can run as stand-alone devices. In this case we are using our own proprietary RISC processor,” Booker added. “We provide the tools for code development to support this, as well as sample firmware with some of the common functionality that most customers will require.”

Both the development kits and controller chips are currently sampling, and the chips are priced at under $5.00 in quantities of 10K units.

 
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