3.2 WinDriver USB Benefits

This section describes the main benefits of the USB standard and the WinDriver USB toolkit, which supports this standard:

• External connection, maximizing ease of use

• Self identifying peripherals supporting automatic mapping of function to driver and configuration

• Dynamically attachable and re-configurable peripherals

• Suitable for device bandwidths ranging from a few Kb/s to hundreds of Mb/s

• Supports isochronous as well as asynchronous transfer types over the same set of wires

• Supports simultaneous operation of many devices (multiple connections)

• Supports a data transfer rate of up to 480 Mb/s (high-speed) for USB 2.0 (for the operating systems that officially support this standard) and up to 12 Mb/s (full-speed) for USB 1.1

• Guaranteed bandwidth and low latencies; appropriate for telephony, audio, etc. (isochronous transfer may use almost the entire bus bandwidth)

• Flexibility: supports a wide range of packet sizes and a wide range of data transfer rates

• Robustness: built-in error handling mechanism and dynamic insertion and removal of devices with no delay observed by the user

• Synergy with PC industry; Uses commodity technologies

• Optimized for integration in peripheral and host hardware

• Low-cost implementation, therefore suitable for development of low-cost peripherals

• Low-cost cables and connectors

• Built-in power management and distribution