1996-11-08 , E/IC-480/650

Eindhoven, The Netherlands - 8 November 1996 - Philips' skills and leadership in monitor and USB technology came together when the company demonstrated the first soft control of a monitor over USB in February 1996. This technology will be available in early 1997 from Philips Semiconductors in the form of a family of Microcontrollers, the P87C390, P83C390 and P83C190 that provide USB/DDC interface, power management and auto-sync detection for monitors. A monitor provides a very convenient location for a hub as it is very easy for the user to access to plug other peripherals into the USB.

The ICs provide USB expandability within the PC system, functioning as a hub, as well as providing plug and play control of the monitor. The PC automatically detects the presence of a monitor, reads its display capabilities and automatically sets the correct video mode suitable for the monitor. The user can also adjust the various geometric parameters (e.g. H and V size, east west correction, pin cushion, etc.) together with the normal user controls such as brightness and contrast. These adjustments are done from software running on the PC, not necessarily using the controls on the front panel of the monitor. The bi-directional nature of USB enables consistency to be maintained with manual controls.

These USB Hubs are similar to Philips'  PDIUSBH11 with the key difference being the integration of an  80C51 microprocessor and the use of the 80C51 instruction set for easy programming to provide the functionality already found in the  P83C180 and associated monitor controllers from Philips Semiconductors. The P87C390, P83C390 and P83C190 are specifically designed for use in monitors and provide USB and DDC (i.e. DDC1, DDC2B, DDC2AB and ACCESS.bus) interfaces. The internal hardware can separate composite sync signals and detect the plural display modes. The plentiful digital/analog voltage outputs can be used to control the monitor specific control functions, such as video, deflection, and convergence.

Each provides four downstream ports, an embedded function with two endpoints, integral FIFO memory for hub and function, asynchronous transmit/receive FIFOs and full USB power management support.

The P83C190 has 16 Kbytes of ROM. The P83C390 has 32 K bytes of ROM. The P87C390 has 32Kbytes of One Time Programmable (OTP) memory. All have 512 bytes of RAM. They are available in a 56 pin SDIP package and pricing has yet to be announced. Samples will be available in early 1997 with full production mid 1997.

Philips Semiconductors, a division of Philips Electronics NV, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the eleventh largest semiconductor supplier in the world. Philips Semiconductors' innovations in digital audio, video, and mobile technology position the company as a leader in the consumer, multimedia and wireless communications markets. Sales offices are located in all major markets around the world and are supported by regional systems labs.