Philips Develops USB On-The-Go Prototype

Earlier this month, we told you about the new USB On-The-Go supplement to the USB 2.0 specification that is being championed by companies including ACON, Cypress, Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, InSilicon, Intel, MCCI, Microsoft, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Onspec, OPTi, Palm, Philips, SoftConnex, Texas Instruments and TransDimension. The idea is to take advantage of a provision in the USB 2.0 spec that allows for smaller connectors on smaller devices so that, for example, you could do things like transfer files between MP3 players. Well, the OTG supplement is definitely "on the go." Philips just announced that it has developed the first USB OTG prototype. The Philips prototype is based on an existing USB host and peripheral single chip device called the ISP1161. A mini-AB receptacle is used on the board and will accept either a mini-A or mini-B plug. The prototype defaults to behaving as a USB host when the mini-A plug is inserted, or as a USB peripheral when the mini-B plug is inserted. Once connected, two devices can exchange the roles of host and peripheral by means of the Host Negotiation Protocol (HNP), which is one of the protocols defined in the supplement. When OTG devices come to light, you should be able to do handy stuff like printing directly from your digital camera.