Cypress Semiconductor's new module
can download a movie to a phone in a minute
Cypress Semiconductor has introduced a new module for
its West Bridge peripheral controllers that offer the fastest
available transfer of multimedia files from a PC to handheld
device via the widely used Media Transfer Protocol (MTP).
Cypress's Turbo-MTP solution enables users to side load
a feature-length movie in less than a minute - 10x faster
than competing MTP implementations.
The Turbo-MTP solution enhances the power of MTP. MTP is
a USB-based protocol used by Rhapsody, Napster, Verizon
V CAST and other online video and music services. MTP enables
the transfer of metadata such as song titles, images, and
Digital Rights Management (DRM) information. With MTP, a
handheld retains access to storage even while plugged into
a PC - users can still make a phone call or watch videos
while connected, instead of facing a "PC Connect"
frozen screen. MTP also removes any risks of file corruption
when users unplug their handheld during a file transfer.
Natively supported in Windows Media Player (WMP), MTP protocol
enables direct, drag-and-drop synchronization between WMP
and a handheld.
"MTP has greatly improved the user experience from
competing protocols, but it slows down transfer speeds,"
said Alakesh Chetia, Vice President of the West Bridge Business
Unit at Cypress. "Turbo-MTP dramatically accelerates
sideloading for MTP handhelds, offloading the data stream
from the main processor onto a high-performance, USB-optimized
West Bridge controller. As a result, users gain the benefits
of MTP without a transfer penalty."
Cypress will demonstrate the Turbo-MTP solution at Mobile
World Congress in Barcelona on February 16 to 19 in Hall
1, Booth 1H35. Recent benchmarks showed that a top-tier
multimedia phone using Turbo-MTP transferred files 10 times
faster than other MTP phones.
Enhanced by West Bridge solutions - including the Antioch
and Astoria peripheral controllers - MTP represents a significant
improvement over the legacy Mass Storage Class (MSC) protocol.
Using MSC, users could not access any content on their handset
when connected to a PC. MTP maintains simultaneous access
to storage, so users can still fully use their phone or
PMP while connected. Also, with MSC, users were required
to use specific "Safe Removal" operations before
unplugging the USB cable or have all stored files get corrupted.
MTP is immune to this loss of data.
The West Bridge Antioch controller achieves superior data
transfer performance by providing a direct path from high-speed
USB 2.0 to handset storage devices such as Secure Digital
High Capacity (SDHC), MultiMedia Card (MMC), Hard Disk Drive
(HDD) and NAND Flash. By fully offloading management of
USB and storage from the main baseband processor, the controller
saves critical processor resources and allows a mobile handset
to maintain full functionality while simultaneously sideloading
multimedia files, synchronizing PIM data, or even using
the phone as a PC modem. The West Bridge Astoria controller
adds to this performance with a configurable multimedia
storage interface and flexible processor interface, easing
connections to a broad range of embedded processors and
mass storage devices. These features allow the Astoria controller
to connect to any embedded processor or DSP, bringing MLC
NAND support to new applications including portable media
players (PMPs), wireless cards, dongles, portable navigation
devices (PNDs), digital cameras, POS terminals and more.
Availability
West Bridge Antioch and Astoria peripheral controllers with
the Turbo-MTP capability are currently in full production.
The Turbo-MTP firmware module is supported in the West Bridge
Antioch Development Kit and the West Bridge Astoria Development
Kit. Contact your local sales representative for more information.
About the West Bridge Family
Devices in the new West Bridge family of peripheral controllers
function as a companion chip to an embedded central processing
unit (CPU) to free it from data-intensive operations. In
the same way the North Bridge and South Bridge were introduced
in the PC architecture to enable the main CPU to evolve
independently from quickly changing memory and peripheral
interfaces, embedded systems are evolving towards a similar
architecture, where a West Bridge device manages the interfaces
and offloads from the main CPU specific peripheral-to-peripheral
traffic.
The West Bridge family is based on Cypress's Simultaneous
Link to Independent Multimedia (SLIM) architecture, which
manages multiple, dedicated paths between peripherals, memory
and the processor to allow maximum data throughput. In addition
to providing a path to interfaces not supported by the main
processor, the SLIM architecture allow direct and independent
data transfer from one interface to another, offloading
the main CPU, and freeing up its resources for higher system
performance. For more information, visit www.cypress.com/go/westbridge.