Global UniChip Corp. Launches USB2.0 Device Controller SIP

June 16 2002 - System-On-Chip (SOC) design service company, Global UniChip Corp. (UniChip), launched Universal Serial Bus 2.0 Silicon Intellectual Property (USB2.0 SIP) today to move toward high-speed multi-media peripheral's market. The code name of the product is "Medusa". It is a USB 2.0 Device Controller (DC) developed solely by UniChip. Not only has "Medusa" passed 0.25 mm process verification, it also cooperates to strategic partners' Physical Layer (PHY) transceivers, resulting the first DC and PHY Co-Verified USB 2.0 total solution in Taiwan.

UniChip points out that Medusa is a highly configurable, easily integrated USB device controller that fully supports USB 1.1/2.0 specification and utilizes UTMI standard interface. The design of Medusa inherits the reusable design concept of UniChip. By register setting, the four layers structure of USB specification - Configuration, Interface, Alternative Setting, and Endpoint, can be set to achieve dynamic changes, allowing customers to develop different kinds of applications for different scenarios, and through the use of compiler to complete hardwired circuit to minimize the size of chip area. Medusa also integrated the synchronization circuit into this SIP to largely reduce customer's development effort. The Buffer Manager is also included in the design of Medusa, thus speeding up the time required for design-in. Finally, its centralized memory management and control can avoid the waste of die size due to traditional circuit design where each Endpoint has a corresponding FIFO.

To ensure the quality of Medusa and to speed up the development time of customers, Medusa follows RMM (Reuse Methodology Manual) specification and passes the functional qualification, making it suitable in all kinds of highly integrated embedded products. Medusa has passed all the testing items in Chapter 9 of USB Compliance Test Suite announced by USB-IF (USB Implementers Forum), further ensuring that customer's product could obtain USB logo easily. Medusa also includes a complete scanning and testing design that has 99% fault coverage rate to ensure customer product's quality. In addition, Medusa's low power consumption further satisfies the need of portable devices.

To help customer in system development, UniChip has built a Bus Functional Model. Apart from a friendly user-interface, it also has self-diagnosis capability so that customer may develop software/firmware and hardware concurrently.

USB2.0 market includes not only PC peripherals but also consumer electronic and IA products, therefore attracting more manufacturers involved. Under the pressure of time-to-market and cost effectiveness, it is foreseeable that more and more system manufacturers and IC design houses will utilize this SIP.

UniChip focuses on providing SOC design and production services, and actively developing numerous SIPs that have been successfully integrated into customer's SOC design. Medusa is also available for IP license. A full set of USB 2.0 development and testing kit is ready for customer's request.