USB - Intel and Standards

Intel helped make it easier to connect devices to PCs

What is USB? Intel contributed to the development of connector standards for the booming peripheral industry. The result was the Universal Serial Bus (USB). USB allows high-speed, easy connection of peripherals outside the personal computer. Simply plug it in – everything configures automatically.

The problem
In the early 1990's, peripheral devices – such as scanners, printers, and PDAs – each had their own complicated installation procedure. At the same time, because of the power and popularity of the PC, more and more of these peripherals were being created. People needed a faster, easier, less frustrating way to connect these devices without having to add cards to the PC and reboot the system.

Industry collaboration
Seeing the problem both computer owners and device manufacturers were having because there was no uniform, consistent way to connect to the PC, Intel took action by:

Forming the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) in 1995 with other industry players to support and accelerate market and consumer adoption of USB-compliant peripherals. Today, USB-IF has over 900 member companies, and the Board of Directors is comprised of representatives from Agere Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, and Philips
Contributing technology from Intel Research and Development, enabling higher-speed connections and plug and play simplicity
Helping develop an open industry specification with royalty-free license for IP
Encouraging adoption of the specification by implementing it in Intel products – Intel released chipsets in May 2002 which integrate Hi-Speed USB 2.0 in the I/O Controller Hub (ICH4) and future versions of the I/O Controller Hub
Speeding up implementation through "PlugFests" – opportunities for vendors to get together to test and demonstrate interoperability of their products based on a set of standards or specifications. The USB-IF currently holds over five compliance workshops or "plugfests" yearly, both within the U.S. and internationally

Standards progress to-date
USB is now a standard feature on all PCs and makes it much easier for users everywhere to plug in everything from digital cameras to MP3 players to their PCs. Devices are easier to install and can be disconnected and plugged back in freely without rebooting the system. USB has provided a tenfold performance increase in data speed from legacy interconnects and has helped further increase the range of products offering PC connection as a feature. Today, new device categories include digital camcorders, digital still cameras, USB flash drives, MP3 players, external DVD-RW's, CD burners, external storage, and more advanced digital scanners and specialty printers.

Today, a new USB standard, USB 2.0 or Hi-Speed USB, provides an even greater enhancement in performance – up to 40 times faster than USB 1.0, with a design data rate of 480 megabits per second (Mbps). The specification for USB 2.0 was approved in April 2000. Hi-Speed USB has won several awards, including PC Magazine's Technical Excellence Award in the Specifications category, and CNET's Best Emerging Technology Award at PC Expo.

In addition, USB On-The-Go (OTG), a supplement to the USB 2.0 specification, was created in 2002. USB OTG defines a dual-role device, which can act as either a host or peripheral, and can connect to a PC or other portable devices through the same connector. Portable computing devices such as handhelds, cell phones and digital cameras that today connect to the PC as a USB peripheral will benefit from having additional capability to connect to other USB devices directly. This means users can perform such functions as sending photos from a digital camera to a printer, PDA, cell phone, or sending music files from an MP3 player to another portable player, PDA or cell phone.

USB in the future
With the success of wired USB, the future of USB looks even better – with the removal of the wire. Next generation Hi-Speed USB will be wireless and will have a targeted bandwidth of 480 Mbps at under 10m. The Wireless USB specification maintains the same usage and architecture as wired USB with a high-speed host-to-device connection.

With these considerations in place, it will enable an easy migration path for today's wired USB solutions. Wireless USB looks to become the single, standard wireless interconnect capable of supporting usage models across all three environments – PC, CE, and mobile market segments.

Learn more
Find out the latest from Intel on USB and USB 2.0.
Learn more about Intel's work with Wireless USB.
Visit the USB Implementers Forum site.