USB Reference Board For Mitsubishi MCUs Now Available From CAE Technology; Board Enables Integration of Application-specific USB Functions into an MCU, Saving Design Time and Cost.SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 2, 1996--The Electronic Device Group of Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc. announced a new Universal Serial Bus See USB. (hardware, standard) Universal Serial Bus - (USB) An external peripheral interface standard for communication between a computer and external peripherals over an inexpensive cable using biserial transmission. (USB USB in full Universal Serial Bus Type of serial bus that allows peripheral devices (disks, modems, printers, digitizers, data gloves, etc.) to be easily connected to a computer. ) reference design board for its microcontrollers (MCUs) is now available from CAE (1) (Computer-Aided Engineering) Software that analyzes designs which have been created in the computer or that have been created elsewhere and entered into the computer. Technology, Inc. Dubbed "MAESTRO," this new reference design board enables early adopters of the USB standard to quickly develop peripheral USB products designed around the Mitsubishi 8-bit M37690 MCU (1) (MicroController Unit) A computer on a single chip. See microcontroller. (2) (Multipoint Control Unit) A device that is used to moderate a videoconference of three or more end points (users at computers or groups of users core and to easily simulate USB functionality in a complete system environment. The MAESTRO also allows customers to decrease costs by integrating only the USB functions they need for their particular peripheral product design, such as the number of endpoint FIFOs, unused control and status registers, DMA (1) (Digital Media Adapter) See digital media hub. (2) (Document Management Alliance) A specification that provides a common interface for accessing and searching document databases. channels, and difference count registers. According to Sayed Hussain, CAE Technology's president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , "CAE Technology and Mitsubishi Electronics are combining their core competencies to enable customers to pay only for the application-specific USB features they need. Customers can receive an optimized USB function controller for a significantly lower cost than might otherwise be available." Hussain concludes, "Our hardware and software gives any customer the ability to quickly develop a function controller without having to worry about the USB host and hub." Says Ike Saeed, product manager for Mitsubishi Electronics' MCUs, "CAE Technology's reference design allows customers to develop and optimize the USB functions necessary for their application. This offers a very quick and cost-effective way to develop a microcontroller-based USB solution. Mitsubishi plans to offer both standard and customer-specific USB microcontrollers, based on its high-performance, very low-power, 8-bit microcontroller cores." MAESTRO Generates USB Host, Hub, Function to Speed Development Time The new MAESTRO reference design board, which complies with the USB version 1.0 specification, incorporates all three USB topology elements: host, hub and function cores, on the same board. This enables early adopters of the USB standard to rapidly prototype peripheral USB products, develop peripheral firmware and software drivers, and test the peripheral in a complete system environment that includes bus communications between the host PC, the peripheral device and the function controller. The MAESTRO board is configured with a synthesized USB host core and a synthesized USB hub function core (generic function interface) which are implemented in two field programmable arrays (FPGAs). The USB generic function interface for the function core supports all four defined USB transfer types: Isochronous Time dependent. Real time voice, video and telemetry are examples of isochronous data. (communications) isochronous - /i:-sok'rn-*s/ A form of multiplexing that guarantees to provide a certain minimum data rate, as required for time-dependent data such as video or audio. , Bulk, Interrupt and Control, and functions with CAE Technology's proprietary USB stack and bus drivers, as well as with software drivers for Microsoft Windows 95. Also on board is an 8-bit M37690 Mitsubishi emulation microcontroller with external ROM and SRAM See static RAM. SRAM - static random-access memory . The FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) A type of gate array that is programmed in the field rather than in a semiconductor fab. Containing up to hundreds of thousands of gates, there are a variety of FPGA architectures on the market. containing the USB function core also contains the hardware logic necessary to enable the M37690 MCU to emulate the USB function control features that customers select for their particular peripheral product applications. Mitsubishi 8-bit Microcontrollers Offer Rich On-chip Functionality Mitsubishi's standard M37690 8-bit microcontroller offers 32 Kbytes of on-chip ROM, 1 Kbyte of on-chip RAM, 71 basic instructions, an instruction execution time of 0.1 micro-second, 46 general purpose I/Os, four timers (three 8-bit, one 16-bit), full-duplex UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) The electronic circuit that makes up the serial port. Also known as "universal serial asynchronous receiver transmitter" (USART), it converts parallel bytes from the CPU into serial bits for transmission, and vice serial I/O (Input/Output) The transfer of data between the CPU and a peripheral device. Every transfer is an output from one device and an input to another. See PC input/output. I/O - Input/Output , main clock oscillation to 20MHz, master CPU CPU in full central processing unit Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. bus interface (8042-type), a watchdog timer with 15-bit resolution, and a minimum supply voltage of 3.0V. Customers Can Work with Mitsubishi and CAE to Develop, Simulate USB-based MCUs Customers involved in high volume-applications can work directly with CAE Technology to select and implement the specific USB functions needed for their function controller design, to simulate and verify their test designs in an environment that models a real USB system, and to verify final hardware models. The hardware models can then be provided to Mitsubishi who will fabricate the customer's final USB-compatible function controller in its 0.8 micron, 8-bit M37690 MCU CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Pronounced "c-moss." The most widely used integrated circuit design. It is found in almost every electronic product from handheld devices to mainframes. process technology. The MAESTRO board is available now from CAE Technology, with pricing starting at $7,500 per board. Mitsubishi's 8-bit M37600 MCU core and M37690M8-XXXFP standard MCU are available now. Pricing and delivery for adding/eliminating MCU and/or USB features will be customer and design specific. About the Universal Serial Bus The Universal Serial Bus is a PC peripheral interface standard developed by computer and telecom industry leaders that will make PCs easier to use and set up. USB will eliminate the steps of installing cards into dedicated computer slots and reconfiguring a PC when adding peripherals, allowing these peripherals to be automatically detected and configured as soon as they are physically attached -- regardless of whether the computer is on or off. There are three reasons behind the push to integrate USB technology into the PC and its peripherals. First, USB provides "ease of use" to the end user. The plug-and-play capability of USB PC peripherals and standardization of USB connectors make connecting any USB-compatible peripheral a simple process. Second, USB allows port expansion so that up to 127 peripherals can share the same bus. Third, USB will allow the connection of PCs to telephones. Since its founding in 1994, the USB Implementers Forum The USB Implementers Forum, USB-IF, is a non-profit organisation to promote and support the Universal Serial Bus. Its main activities are the promotion and marketing of USB, Wireless USB, USB On-The-Go, and the maintenance of the specifications, as well as a compliance program. (IF) has grown from seven members to more than 300 and includes the world's leading computer hardware and software manufacturers. USB founders include Compaq Computer, Digital Equipment Corporation, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NEC (NEC Corporation, Tokyo, www.nec.com, www.necus.com) An electronics conglomerate known in the U.S. for its monitors. In Japan, it had the lion's share of the PC market until the late 1990s (see PC 98). NEC was founded in Tokyo in 1899 as Nippon Electric Company, Ltd. and NorTel. For more information on USB, including the technical specification, new products and frequently-asked questions, please visit the USB home page at http://www.teleport.com/-usb. About CAE Technologies Established in 1991 with headquarters in San Jose, California San Jose (IPA: /ˌsænhoʊˈzeɪ/) is the third-largest city in California, and the tenth-largest in the United States. It is the county seat of Santa Clara County. , CAE Technology, Inc. provides USB, PCI (1) (Payment Card Industry) See PCI DSS. (2) (Peripheral Component Interconnect) The most widely used I/O bus (peripheral bus). , and other synthesizable core products. CAE Technology is a member of the USB Implementers Forum and offers USB solutions including technology-independent design methodologies and synthesizable logic blocks for host, hub, and function controllers; simulation test bench simulation models for prototype and system simulation and verification; and the Virtual Simulation Framework (VSF) methodology for hardware-software co-design. About Mitsubishi Electronic Device Group Mitsubishi Electric Corporation ranks among the top five worldwide suppliers of 8- and 16-bit microcontrollers and is a member of the USB Implementers Forum. The company markets its microcontroller products in North America through the Electronic Device Group, a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and its North American affiliate, Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc., are world-class suppliers of semiconductors and electronic products for visual computing. Mitsubishi combines its systems-level expertise and high-level silicon process technology to provide chip, chip-set, and system-on-a-chip solutions. The company is ranked among the top 10 worldwide semiconductor suppliers and offers an extensive range of semiconductor-based products in the North American marketplace including ASICs, memory ICs, optoelectronic products, microwave GaAs FETs, MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) An ISO/ITU standard for compressing digital video. Pronounced "em-peg," it is the universal standard for digital terrestrial, cable and satellite TV, DVDs and digital video recorders (DVRs). codecs and flat-panel displays. Mitsubishi semiconductor and related electronic products are marketed in North America through the Electronic Device Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc. -0- Note to Editors: All trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. CONTACT: Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc. Sherry Hill 408/774-3188 shill@msm.mea.com or CAE Technology, Inc. Sayed Hussain 408/526-9207 sayed@caetech.com or The Horn Group, Inc. Susan Rozmanith 415/579-6447 susan@horngroup.com or USB Implementers Forum Susan Shaw 408/448-4935 compass1@usa.pipeline.com |
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