Media device controller adds infra-red remote

The USB2232 is a USB-to-infra-red and 15-in-1 Flash media card reader with integrated consumer infra-red (CIR) controller.

Consumers have a seemingly insatiable desire for digital media and a preference for accessing as much of it as possible on their computers, from viewing DVDs and video editing to storing and listening to entire music collections.

Remote control is a natural extension of that access, and it is now helped by SMSC's introduction of its USB2232 USB-to-infra-red and 15-in-1 Flash media card reader with integrated consumer infra-red (CIR) controller.

The USB2232 extends SMSC's industry-first family of media device controllers, the first of which was the USB2230 controller, which combined Flash media and infra-red technology for data transfer of digital images from camera phones and other Infrared Data Association (IrDA) enabled devices.

The USB2232 extends the offering by adding remote control of digital media devices, significantly enhancing ease-of-use for consumers when interfacing with products such as media PCs and multifunction printers.

"System designers of consumer electronics products that access an increasingly rich and diverse set of digital media are under constant pressure to reduce costs, increase functionality and boost the simplicity of interaction for the user", said Steve Nelson, Vice President of Marketing, Connectivity Solutions at SMSC.

"With the USB2232, we're giving designers a simple, yet powerful means of delivering these benefits with the added functionality of remote control in a tightly integrated single-chip solution utilising low-cost and virtually ubiquitous infra-red technology".

In addition, the USB2232 provides designers of such media-rich consumer products with tremendous flexibility in how they choose to implement the remote control functionality, as well as ease-of-use in designing it in.

For instance, designers may choose to implement the infra-red receiver in a computer monitor, where a user is more likely to point a remote control device, as opposed to the computer itself, which might rest out of the user's sight line.

The USB2232's integration of both infra-red and Flash media in one package that uses only one USB connection makes for easy design, while reducing design time and cost.

In addition, the USB2232 uses the standardised human interface device (HID) interface in enabling its CIR functionality, which greatly reduces software complexity.

Compared with other wireless solutions, infra-red is a convenient, low-power and low-cost technology that is nearly ubiquitous in its presence in today's homes.

Unlike other wireless options, CIR remote control solutions are line-of-sight only, minimising the possibility of inadvertently accessing or controlling more than one PC or printer in a home or office environment.

Samples of the USB2232 with external ROM are available today with production quantities available in November 2005.

Pricing is $5.80 per unit (US list price) in quantities of 10,000.

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