Science & Technology
Science and Technology
Science and Technology
Thu, December 18, 2008 Cypress West Bridge Controller Helps RIM Blackberry Bold Achieve Fastest Sideloading Times Among 3G Mobile Handsets
SAN JOSE, Calif.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:CY) today announced that its West Bridge® peripheral controllers delivered the fastest sideloading (transfer of multimedia files from a PC to a mobile handset) in a comparison conducted by TechInsights in Electronic Engineering Times. The comparison discovered that the RIM Blackberry Bold phone using the CYWB0124AB West Bridge Antioch™ controller could transfer a feature-length movie in just over two minutes, reaching speeds of over 13 Mbytes per second. The other 3G phones tested took from 4.5 minutes to 38 minutes to sideload the same movie file. Full details of the comparison are available at [ www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212002500 ], and a corresponding video is available at [ http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid2226603001 ].
"Increased storage densities and acceptance of larger and faster MicroSD cards mean users can download and save more content on their phones," says Greg Quirk, product manager at TechInsights, in the article. After identifying the CYWB0124AB West Bridge peripheral controller as the source of the winning transfer times for the Blackberry Bold, he goes on to explain of the chip: "Instead of routing files from the computer through the phone processor to the storage device, it sets up a tunnel directly from the computer to the storage device."
The West Bridge Antioch controller achieves its superior performance by providing a direct path from High-Speed USB 2.0 to the latest handset storage devices such as Secure Digital (SD/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, making phone calls, watching videos, listening to music, or even using the phone as a PC modem. The Antioch controller is currently in full production. For more information, visit [ www.cypress.com/go/westbridge ].
"We are pleased to see our West Bridge controllers aid our customers in delivering industry-leading multimedia transfer times and convenience to their end users," said Alakesh Chetia, Vice President of the West Bridge Business Unit at Cypress. "We continue to develop support for new storage and connectivity standards, expanding the benefit of the West Bridge architecture to other handhelds that need to eliminate the user's wasted wait time while transferring content."
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.
About Cypress
Cypress delivers high-performance, mixed-signal, programmable solutions that provide customers with rapid time-to-market and exceptional system value. Cypress offerings include the PSoC® programmable system-on-chip, USB controllers, general-purpose programmable clocks and memories. Cypress also offers wired and wireless connectivity technologies ranging from its CyFi™ Low-Power RF solution, to West Bridge® and EZ-USB® FX2LP controllers that enhance connectivity and performance in multimedia handsets. Cypress serves numerous markets including consumer, computation, data communications, automotive, and industrial. Cypress trades on the NYSE under the ticker symbol CY. Visit Cypress online at [ www.cypress.com ].
Cypress, the Cypress logo and West Bridge are registered trademarks and Antioch, Simultaneous Link to Independent Multimedia, SLIM and C8 are trademarks of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
