Date: 13/06/2012

USB-to-UART bridge controller from Cypress for printers, cables and industrial applications

Cypress Semiconductor Corp has introduced a new EZ-USB USB-UART bridge controller 'CY7C64225' to expand its USB product portfolio. The new device offers a low-power solution to convert legacy UART (universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter) interfaces to full-speed USB 2.0 interfaces. There is no need of additional firmware/software development effort to use this solution.

The bridge controller offers sleep currents of 6 µA and has power management features such as USB remote wake-up, device enumeration signaling and both bus- and self-powered modes. These features enable manufacturers to meet USB-IF standards. An integrated clock generator is also included that eliminates the need for an external crystal.

"The EZ-USB USB-UART Bridge Controller is the first device in a family of USB to serial bridge products," said Badri Kothandaraman, executive vice president of the data communications division at Cypress. "We have addressed the issue that designers have told us is most important-power consumption-and delivered a complete, easy-to-design solution for applications that require low power such as small-form-factor printers, USB-UART cables and industrial systems."

The controller incorporates 128 bytes of programmable memory to configure device parameters including vendor and product IDs, string descriptors and power mode. A software configuration utility is available that assists customers to modify these parameters via the USB port. Cypress also provides a driver for use with 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP.

The CY7C64225 is in full production and is offered in a 28-pin SSOP package that can be mounted on a two-layer PCB.

For more information: www.cypress.com/go/USB-UART