Atmel's Plug & Play USB Host/function Processor Delivers Unmatched Simplicity in Embedded Design

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 23, 2003--Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq:ATML) Atmel announced today the industry's first full speed, USB 2.0 compliant host/function processor, capable of managing USB host activities without any system processor intervention. This processor, the AT43USB370, is also the only USB host solution on the market today with enough on-chip intelligence to offload USB device driver functionality from the system processor. Application specific device drivers can be built from a very small set of ANSI C compliant APIs (Application Protocol Interface) encompassing the basic building blocks of all USB device classes. With the introduction of the AT43USB370, Atmel is now able to provide system designers unmatched simplicity in enhancing embedded devices with point-to-point USB connectivity, at minimal engineering cost and with the shortest time-to-market.

The AT43USB370 is designed specifically to address the challenges facing embedded system designers today, most notably limited system resources and long USB development cycles. Conventional USB host design separates the USB physical layer from the USB firmware stack that must be developed and integrated into the system application code for each and every embedded design. This approach not only takes away system resources from the application itself, but also requires higher levels of USB expertise on the part of the designers, and leads to lengthy development time.

"The AT43USB370 integrates all of the USB intelligence on chip," commented Jeff Gao, USB Marketing Manager at Atmel. "It handles USB activities autonomously and consumes very little system resources. And instead of struggling with the nuts and bolts of USB protocols and device classes, system designers will only need to learn a small set of device class APIs to successfully develop USB device drivers and applications. What is really compelling about the AT43USB370 is that it hides all of the complexities of the traditional USB design, therefore allowing designers to focus their time and effort on enhancing the actual applications."

The AT43USB370 bolsters a dual-RISC-Core architecture with embedded USB host stack, hub driver and basic building blocks of the USB device drivers. Its 32-bit generic host processor interface allows the AT43USB370 to interface with a wide variety of popular embedded processors. The DMA engine, along with dual RX and TX FIFO buffering, ensures maximum data throughput for all four UBS transfer types (control, isochronous, bulk and interrupt).

In the host mode, the AT43USB370 can be connected to an USB hub device to support multiple USB devices. No additional USB driver is required. In the function mode, the AT43USB370 can operate as a low speed or full speed device. It can support up to one control endpoint and six programmable endpoints. In-system firmware upgrade is supported in both the host mode and the function mode. This feature enables the AT43USB370 to switch between the host/function mode in real time. It provides an AT43USB370 based product (ex. a printer) the versatility to interact with a USB host (ex. a PC) or a USB device (ex. a digital camera with a function-only USB port).

A complete development kit, the AT43DK370 is available for evaluation and real time application development of the AT43USB370 host/function processor. The AT43DK370 comes with a reference design board featuring an ARM7(R) as the system processor and in-circuit programming capability. It also includes the AT43USB370 firmware library in binary, the device driver interface APIs and USB Clinic, an in-circuit diagnostic and debugging tool.

The AT43USB370 comes in a 100-pin TQFP package. Samples are available now. Pricing starts at $4.89 in quantities of 10,000. For more information regarding the AT43USB370 and its companion development kit, please visit http://www.atmel.com/ad/plugplayhost.

About Atmel

Founded in 1984, Atmel Corporation is headquartered in San Jose, California with manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe. Atmel designs, manufactures and markets worldwide, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and RF semiconductors. Atmel is also a leading provider of system-level integration semiconductor solutions using CMOS, BiCMOS, SiGe, and high-voltage BCDMOS process technologies.

Note to Editors: Atmel(R) and combinations thereof are the registered trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. ARM7 is the registered trademark of ARM Limited. Other terms and product names may be the trademarks of others.

Information:

Atmel's AT43USB370 information can be retrieved at: http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/3340s.pdf

Requests may be sent via e-mail to literature@atmel.com or by visiting Atmel's website at www.atmel.com

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