Arasan Chip Systems' redesigned USB 2.0 hub IP enables compound devices to share USB port

SAN JOSE, USA: Arasan Chip Systems Inc., a leading provider of Intellectual Property (IP) Cores, announced today the increased adoption of its redesigned USB 2.0 Hub Controller IP core in building compound USB devices. Arasan Chip Systems is a pioneering provider of USB IP with over a hundred licensees of its USB IP cores.

USB is the de-facto connectivity interface in a variety of consumer electronic devices ranging from digital still cameras, camcorders, cell phones to printers, netbooks and personal computers. USB has also replaced a number of low bandwidth, proprietary interfaces, resulting in the wide proliferation in the number of USB based peripherals.

However, end systems only support a limited number of USB ports - constrained by form-factor, power and cost. System designers have overcome this constraint by building USB based compound devices.

Arasan's USB 2.0 Hub controller IP enables designers to build innovative compound devices that integrate multiple functions. These compound devices connect to an external USB host over a single USB upstream port.

Arasan's low power USB 2.0 Hub controller IP can seamlessly integrate multiple downstream functions without the need for a USB PHY (for each downstream function), thereby reducing power and system cost. The IP can be scaled to support multiple functions of differing speed to an upstream high-speed USB host with minimal internal buffering.

"System designers have to balance a number of constraints such as usage, power, form-factor, and performance when building compound USB devices," said Prakash Kamath, Vice-President of Engineering at Arasan. "Arasan's USB 2.0 Hub IP provides the designer a cost effective and optimized solution tailored to meet these system requirements of a compound USB device."

"With the rapid increase in the number of electronic devices with integrated USB ports, USB hubs are needed in order to enable USB hosts to scale to support multiple peripherals," said Somnath Viswanath, Product Marketing Manager at Arasan. "With over a decade of experience in developing USB IP cores, designers can rely on Arasan's high quality USB 2.0 Hub IP to implement compound USB devices that scale a USB interface".

Arasan's USB 2.0 Hub Controller IP core integrates all the functions needed to build an integrated low-power USB Hub. The IP core integrates control endpoint, interrupt endpoint, repeater, transaction translator, routing logic and downstream port logic. It handles all standard USB transfers such as isochronous, interrupt, control and bulk.

The controller connects to a standard USB 2.0 PHY over a UTMI, UTMI+ or ULPI interface. The modular implementation of the USB 2.0 Hub IP facilitates the development of low power compound devices that include the USB 2.0 hub functionality.

Arasan provides a "Total IP Solution" for its USB 2.0 Hub Controller IP core consisting of RTL source code, verification IP and test environment, all backed by world-class customer support.